Acute hospitals across the country will again this year participate in the National Patient Experience Survey.
The 2018 survey is part of a broader programme to help improve the quality and safety of healthcare services provided to patients in Ireland including those attending Letterkenny University Hospital.
The survey tries to understand how patients interact with the healthcare system and how they experience this process. It will help us establish what is working well in our hospitals and what needs to be improved.
All inpatients discharged from Letterkenny University Hospital during May 2018 will be invited to participate in this survey.
The National Patient Experience Survey values and seeks to represent the patient voice.
The 2017 survey demonstrated that in relation to their admission to hospital, a significant number of patients said that they always felt that they were treated with respect and dignity in the emergency department. Patients also reported having enough privacy on the ward. This was found to be an area of good experience.
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Helen Hanrahan, Assistant Director of Nursing; Olive Gallagher, Assistant Director of Nursing; Jean Kelly, Group Director of Nursing; Ger Kilkelly, Patient Advice Liaison Service (PALS), Dr Tom Walsh, Associate Clinical Director, Medicine; James Geoghegan, Patient Advice Liaison Service (PALS).
Patients also reported good experiences of receiving clear explanations of their medicines, as well as enough information on how to manage their condition after discharge.
Key findings for Letterkenny University Hospital in the 2017 survey were that across the Hospital, 83% of patients in Letterkenny University Hospital said that, overall, they felt that they were treated with respect and dignity.
A number of areas for improvement were identified and these included waiting times in the emergency department, communications around diagnosis and test results and the patient discharge and transfer process.
In response to last year’s survey findings Letterkenny University Hospital has developed a quality improvement plan – Listening Responding and Improving – and to date we have implemented a number of improvements or projects, including:
– An improvement Programme in the Emergency Department will continue to work to increase self-awareness among staff and to engage in continuous improvement in the department to provide an improved experience for the patients, families, and the care teams (ED Micro-systems).
– Training for staff in communications skills will be delivered.
– Comfort packs are available for patients in ED, these packs include tooth brushes, socks, t-shirts
– There is an on-going focus on reducing the number of patients on trolleys in the Emergency Department, in line with the HSE target times.
– Information for patients about support services available to them during their hospital stay will be enhanced. A campaign of awareness raising amongst patients about sharing concerns and speaking to staff about anything that they are worried about will be promoted.
– A hospital patient information booklet is available and this is available in many languages. We will be delivering plain English workshops for staff to support them to further develop patient information.
– Project currently being undertaken on improving Discharge Planning.
Seán Murphy, General Manager, Letterkenny University Hospital said, “The Patient Experience Survey results have given us a clear insight into the patient’s experiences in our hospital and assists us in understanding what matters to patients. It confirms for us the importance of working in partnership with our patients, their carers, our staff and communities. I would like to thank all the patients who took part in the survey and the staff who encouraged and facilitated it. I would again encourage our patients to participate in this year’s survey – your feedback is very important to us and provides us with important information on how we can continue to improve patient care and build on positive patient experience.”
For further information on the National Patient Experience Survey visit www.patientexperience.ie or follow @NPESurvey @HSELive #patientexperience #listeningrespondingimproving
