Patients praise care they received at Dorset County Hospital
20 September 2023
Patients have praised the level of care experienced at Dorset County Hospital (DCH).
The latest inpatient survey, carried out by the Picker Institute on behalf of the Care Quality Commission, captured the views and experiences of 560 patients who stayed at least one night as an inpatient at DCH during November 2022.
Questions included in the survey ask for feedback on the patients’ journeys from admission to hospital, treatment and discharge.
The results revealed that 100% of people surveyed had trust in the doctors providing their care; 99% of people felt they were treated with dignity and respect and 85% of patients rated their overall hospital experience as 7/10 or more.
DCH scored above the Picker average for staff explaining reasons for changing wards at night; staff not contradicting each other about care and treatment; quality of the food; being about to get food outside of meal times and having help from staff to eat their meals.
Areas for improvement included providing further explanation and discussion with patients regarding their care and need for equipment or home adaptation after leaving the hospital; helping patients keep in touch with family and friends and being asked about the quality of their care whilst in hospital.
Chief Nursing Officer at Dorset County Hospital Jo Howarth said: “Our teams at Dorset County Hospital are incredibly proud to receive such positive feedback from our patients at a time when the NHS continues to be under great pressure. We would like to thank all patients who took part.
“Patient feedback is vital for us to continue to shape and improve our services and the quality of care we provide. Although we celebrate the positive feedback in this report there is always more we can do, and we will be using the information provided to continue to improve the care we offer.”
The full patient survey results for all hospitals are available on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk/publications/surveys