13 June 2018

Patients at Shropshire’s two acute hospitals are treated with dignity and respect, a new report has found.

The 2017 Adult Inpatient Survey, produced by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), also found that patients at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford, had confidence and trust in the nurses treating them and also felt well looked after by non-clinical staff such as cleaners, porters and catering staff.

In the survey The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), which runs RSH and PRH, scored 9/10 or more in 11 of the 62 questions posed to patients. The Trust scored 8/10 or more in over half of the questions.

Other highlights of the report include:

  • Admission date not being changed
  • Hospital specialist having all the information they needed about the patient’s condition
  • Availability of same-sex bays
  • Cleanliness
  • Privacy when being examined or treated
  • Staff answering questions in a way the patient could understand

There were just four questions in which SaTH’s score was judged to be statistically significantly worse than in 2016. In one question, about ward cleanliness, the Trust still scored more than 9/10, while in another, relating to the purpose of medicines which the patient was being sent home with, SaTH scored 8/10.

SaTH was rated as performing worse than most other trusts in one area, relating to discussions about whether the patient would need further health or social care services after leaving hospital. SaTH scored 7.5/10.

Deirdre Fowler, Director of Nursing, Midwifery and Quality at SaTH, said: “We are delighted that the latest survey of our inpatients shows that people who entrust their care to us feel that we treat them with dignity and respect and have confidence in our medical and nursing staff.

“I am also absolutely delighted that almost everyone who responded said they felt well looked after by our non-clinical staff. This is a new question that patients were asked for the first time in this survey and it reflects our belief that good healthcare is the responsibility of everybody who works at our Trust.

“Whilst we never want to see our score fall in any category, it is important to note that in two of the four areas where this happened, our score came down from a very good score and that in both we still scored 8/10 or better.

“However, we will not be complacent and we will be looking at these areas to see how we can get our scores back up and how we can improve in other areas where we have not scored so highly.

“Our Vision is to provide the safest and kindest care in the NHS and reports like this survey are important benchmarks to measure what we are doing well and areas where we still need to improve.

“The positive comments our patients made about their care say a lot about our fantastic staff and I would like to thank them for everything they do.”