Praise for Conquest

An inpatient survey was carried out by the Commission as part of their Annual Health Check. A total of 850 patients discharged in June 2006, were sent a questionnaire and 534 (66%) responded.

There were other improvements since the survey was carried out in 2005 including patients' view on time spent on waiting lists, food and communication with GPs. The questions that received the best scores from patients included the amount of privacy given, explanation of pain control by anaesthetists, patients being treated with dignity and respect and patients' confidence in doctors and nurses.

Cathy Stone, Director of Nursing, said, "We are thrilled with these results because we know that issues such as dignity and privacy are paramount to our patients. We can also see from the results that the Trust scored highly on pain control and explanations of pain control. These are areas we have focused on since the 2005 results and it is clear to see that we are making big strides here."

The Trust will endeavour to work on areas such as offering patients a greater choice of dates, as well as improving waiting times.

Cathy continued, "Another key area to improve on is improving communication when it comes to explaining information on medication. Both sites now have a dedicated medication helpline that we hope patients will take full advantage of."

Survey highlights include:

more patients said they waited six months or less for planned admissions, 81% in this survey compared with 66% in 2005.

encouraging signs on cleanliness with 95% of patients saying their room or ward, was "very clean" or "fairly clean" compared to a national average of 93%.

an improvement in the rating of the food, with 57% of the patients saying the food was 'very good' or 'good' compared with 46% in 2005.