CQC publishes results of national hospital inpatient survey
More than 63,000 patients at 133 NHS trusts, who had stayed at least one night in hospital during November 2022, were questioned about their basic care needs, interactions with staff and hospital discharge.
Findings published on 12 September, show:
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18% of respondents felt they had to wait ‘far too long’ to get to a bed on a ward after admission, up from 15% in 2021 and 8% in 2020
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around four in 10 (41%) said their health deteriorated while waiting to be admitted for planned care (asked for the first time in 2022 and echoing our own research on the impact of long waits published in 2021)
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·only 52% thought there were ‘always’ enough nurses on duty to care for them, down from 55% in 2021 and 62% in 2020
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only 34% felt that staff involved them ‘a great deal’ in decisions about their care and treatment, fewer than in 2021 (35%) and 2020 (38%)
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fewer than half (48%) of inpatients said they were ‘definitely’ given enough notice about when they would be discharged, compared with 50% in 2021 and 53% in 2020
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after discharge, 46% said they ‘definitely’ got enough health or social care support to recover from or manage their health, the same as in 2021 and lower (51%) than in 2020
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around 80% of people had confidence in their doctors or nurses, unchanged from 2021, but slightly lower than in 2020
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more than 80% of people felt they were treated with dignity and respect, unchanged from 2021 but lower than in 2020.
Helpfully, the CQC provides a ready-made report for every trust so you can check the experience of people at your local hospitals and inform your discussions with local trust leaders and commissioners.
The CQC said while it noted the generally high level of positive interactions between patients and staff, it was disappointed at lack of improvement in areas like hospital discharge and called on each trust to reflect on individual findings to pinpoint areas for action.
