Patient satisfaction continues to rise

Patient satisfaction with Scotland’s health service continues to rise, according to this year’s inpatient experience survey, published today.

The Quality of Healthcare Experience National indicator has risen to 82.8 - its highest level since the survey began and a significant increase of 1.1 from the previous survey in 2014.

The 2016 survey found that 90% of patients rated their care and treatment as good or excellent, the highest rating since the survey began in 2010.

Good or excellent care in A&E has increased to 88% over the same time period, while the percentage of people who thought their ward was clean has increased from 95% to 96% since the last survey in 2014.

Overall satisfaction with the hospital environment increased from 88% to 89% since the last survey, and overall satisfaction with hospital staff has remained at 91%.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said:

“This increase in patient satisfaction would not have been possible without the hard work of NHS staff, and I’d like to thank them for their continuing dedication.

“It is encouraging to see that satisfaction in Scotland’s hospitals continues to rise against a backdrop of increasing patient numbers. It’s especially pleasing to see even more people rating their overall care as good or excellent, including in areas like accident and emergency.

“These increasing levels of satisfaction show that our decisions to put the patient at the heart of everything we do in our NHS, and to increase workforce numbers to their current record levels, are delivering good results.

“We are determined to continue to push up standards. This is why we are providing financial support to all health and social care partnerships in the form of £90 million over three years, specifically to reduce delays in patients leaving hospital, plus an additional £250 million for investment in social care in 2016/17.

“The funding will help support partnerships achieve the National Integration Indicators, one of which is a commitment to increase the number of people discharged within 72 hours of being ready for discharge.”