Wirral University Teaching Hospital has been given a better score than ever for patient experience in a Care Quality Commission survey.
The Trust, which runs Arrowe Park, Clatterbridge and the Wirral Women and Children’s Hospitals, has been given a score of 8.4 out of 10 for patient experience by patients responding to the annual Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey of inpatients.
The national survey involved 134 acute trusts in England and looked at the hospital inpatient stay experiences of 62,235 patients. Overall, the CQC found that people were most positive about being treated with dignity and respect whilst in hospital. In this area, patients again gave the Trust a score of 9 out of 10.
The 2021 survey of adult inpatient’s experiences involved 134 NHS acute trusts in England. They received responses from 62,235 patients, a response rate of 39.5%. Patients were eligible for the survey if they were aged 16 years or older, had spent at least one night in hospital during November 2021. In the CQC report, the patients’ scores are banded into three categories, ‘Better,’ and ‘Worse’ and ‘About the same’ as the expected range in each section.
Wirral University Teaching Hospital (WUTH) performed better than most other trusts in the survey in relation to six indicators and these focused on communication.
In the section relating to operations and procedures, the Trust received a score of 8.6 out of 10 from patients. This is reported as somewhat better than most trusts scored in this section. In all other questions, the WUTH score was in the ‘about the same’ category.
Tracy Fennell, Chief Nurse at Wirral University Teaching Hospital said, “While our overall score shows a slight improvement, and it is reassuring to see that WUTH’s performance is comparable to other Trusts, we will be looking in detail at the findings to identify those areas where we can make further progress.
“The length of time patients waited for a bed after arriving at the hospital has increased. We have taken steps to improve this, including opening additional beds. However, there are large numbers of patients currently in our hospitals who do not meet the ‘Criteria to Reside’ in that they are medically fit to be discharged but need care to be arranged by other providers in their homes or in the community. This is a national issue being faced by many hospital trusts.
“Here on Wirral, we are committed to working with partners across the local health and care system to address this issue, as delayed discharges have an impact on our patients.”
Image: WUTH
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