Scottish Inpatient Patient Experience Survey 2011 Volume 1: National Results

4 Results - the hospital and ward

The hospital and ward environment

4.1 Patients were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the following eight statements about the hospital and ward environment:

• The main ward or room I stayed in was clean;
• The bathrooms and toilets were clean;
• I was not bothered by noise at night;
• I was not bothered by noise during the day;
• I was happy with the food and drink that I received;
• When I called I received assistance within a reasonable time;
• I was not bothered or threatened by other patients or visitors;
• I knew who was in charge of the ward.

4.2 Patients were also asked how they would rate the hospital environment overall and if they had shared a room or bay with a member of the opposite sex during their most recent stay in hospital.

Views on the hospital environment overall

4.3 At a national level, the majority of patients reported their experience of the overall hospital environment positively, with 79 per cent rating it as good or excellent, the same as last year. Only four per cent rated it as poor or very poor. Chart 2 shows how patients answered the question.

Chart 2 Overall, how would you rate the hospital environment?

Views on individual aspects of the hospital environment

4.4 Table 2 shows how patients rated the hospital environment.

4.5 The aspect of the hospital and ward environment that patients were most positive about was that the main ward or room they stayed in was clean (92%). The aspect that patients were least positive about was not being bothered by noise during the night (52%).

4.6 Compared to last year, there were small increases in the percentage of patients agreeing or strongly agreeing that the main ward or room they stayed in was clean; that the bathrooms and toilets were clean and that they were not bothered or threatened by other patients.

4.7 There were small decreases in the percentage of patients agreeing or strongly agreeing that they were happy with the food and drink that they received and that they knew who was in charge of the ward compared to last year.

4.8 Following consultation with NHS Boards the question about patients being bothered by noise was replaced with two new questions asking specifically about noise during the day and noise during the night. The new questions will make it easier for NHS Boards to identify the cause of noise problems. Last year 58 per cent of patients were not bothered by noise. This year 68 per cent of patients were not bothered about noise during the day and 52 per cent of patients were not bothered about noise during the night. Noise at night is more of a problem for patients because it will affect their sleep and potentially affect their period of recovery.

4.9 Another question that was added to this year's survey asked if patients received assistance within a reasonable time when they called for it, with 87 per cent of patients strongly agreeing or agreeing.

Table 2 Summary of the results to questions about the hospital environment

* Not all rows add to 100% due to rounding, statistically significant differences are in bold

Knowing who was in charge of the ward

4.10 There has been a small decrease of three percentage points in the percentage of patients who knew who was in charge of the ward. More than a quarter of patients disagreed that they knew who was in charge of the ward. The Senior Charge Nurse is the staff member in charge of the ward, although some patients will have answered that they knew who was in charge of the ward, but thought it was someone else. One of the aims of the Leading Better Care programme ^[8] to achieve by the end of 2010 was to redefine the role of Senior Charge Nurses. This included making sure that the Senior Charge Nurse is visible and accessible to patients. Although the survey only covered hospital stay up to September 2010, it appears there may still be problems with patients understanding the role of the Senior Charge Nurse.

Sharing a room or bay with members of the opposite sex

4.11 In addition to the statements identified in Table 4.1, patients were asked if they had shared a room or bay with a member of the opposite sex during their most recent stay in hospital. Ten per cent of patients shared a room or bay with a member of the opposite sex, a similar percentage to the 9 per cent that had in 2010. This is despite the fact that all Scottish hospitals should have abolished mixed sex wards. 12 per cent of emergency patients reported sharing a room with a member of the opposite sex compared to 6 per cent for waiting list or planned in advance patients. This suggest that it may be that in the A&E / acute receiving ward where most patients are sharing a room or bay with a member of the opposite sex. It is worth noting that here are likely to be differences in the perceptions of patients of what constitutes mixed sex accommodation.