Nine out of ten patients happy

Nine out of 10 patients are pleased with the care they have received at St John’s and other hospitals in the Lothians.

According to a new survey published on Tuesday, 91 per cent of patients said they were happy with how they were treated.

The Inpatient Patient Experience Survey 2016 has found that patients being treated in Lothian rated their care highly - even exceeding the national average score.

More than nine out of 10 patients also said they had confidence and trust in the doctors and nurses providing their care and more than eight out of 10 ( 85 per cent) were happy with the time they waited for treatment in the emergency department, while 91 per cent rated staff highly.

The study also showed that patients scored the cleanliness of wards, rooms and equipment highly throughout NHS Lothian with the majority - 95 per cent - of patients saying they were happy with standards.

Furthermore more than nine out of 10 (94 per cent) said they were treated with respect and had enough privacy when being treated and another 92 per cent said they were kept as comfortable as possible during their stay.

Professor Alex McMahon, nurse director, NHS Lothian, said: “We are really encouraged by this latest patient experience survey because it shows us that patients in Lothian are generally positive about their experience in hospital.

“We are really pleased that patients found their surroundings clean and they had confidence in clinicians and they had privacy.

“We look at the survey as being a really helpful tool to help us shape the services we provide to ensure that patients always receive the best care possible.”

A total of 5122 patients who stayed overnight in an NHS Lothian hospital between April 1 and September 30 were asked to complete the survey. Of those patients, 2,202 returned feedback on their experiences.

The findings also revealed that some areas can still be improved and they will be considered as part of the study review.

Around seven out of 10 patients felt they waited longer than they had expected for their care or support services to be organised and less than half ( 46 per cent) knew which nurse was in charge of their care.

More work will also be done around informing patients how they can provide feedback about their care or their stay in hospital after 38 per cent said they knew how to go about it.

Professor McMahon added: “We will analyse the feedback and recognise that there will be specific things we will want to change in light of the survey.”

The Inpatient Patient Experience Survey 2016 was commissioned as part of the Scottish Care Experience Survey Programme .