Survey reveals hospital gripes

1:44pm Friday 16th May 2008

Comments (1)   Have your say »

NOISY nurses, lengthy waiting times and unhelpful hospital staff have been exposed in a recent survey by a health watchdog.

The Healthcare Commission's inpatient survey asked 502 overnight patients for their views on the care they received at the Princess Royal University Hospital in Farnborough Common, Orpington, and Orpington Hospital, Sevenoaks Road, Orpington.

Their responses highlighted problems with noisy wards, including staff making a racket at night.

Many were also unhappy at having to endure long spells waiting to get a bed.

Those particular responses put Bromley Hospitals' NHS Trust in the bottom 20 per cent of the 165 trusts which took part in the survey.

The 2007 report, published last week, also underlined many patients were anxious family members were not given "enough opportunity to talk to a doctor".

It showed staff members were not communicating effectively with worried patients as the trust fell into the bottom 20 per cent on staff advice on pre-op care.

The trust's nurse director, Jennie Hall, said: "This survey is very useful. It tells us we are getting the privacy and dignity aspects of care right, but we are not talking to patients enough about their care and treatment.

"We have introduced a programme of work to routinely focus on measuring patients' satisfaction."

Outgoing chief executive Ian Wilson added: "We have been through a difficult period and we can do better. The trust is implementing a turnaround plan."

The 72-question poll in England's hospitals was the biggest of its kind with nearly 76,000 adult patients completing the questionnaire nationwide.

Anna Walker, the commission's chief executive, said: "The survey shows in some hospitals the NHS is struggling to deliver on some hospital care basics."