The Royal United Hospital is asking patients to give their views about their stay on the ward or their visit to the Emergency Department.
The following question is being asked of all adult patients aged over 16, who stay at least one night on the ward or who visit and leave our Emergency Department: “How likely are you to recommend our ward/Emergency Department to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?”
Patients are invited to respond confidentially to the question by choosing one of six options, ranging from ‘extremely likely’ to ‘extremely unlikely’. They will also ask patients to provide more information to tell them why they gave their particular answer.
This question and answer is known as the Friends and Family Test and is part of a national programme to find out about patients’ experience of NHS hospital care.
Theresa Hegarty, Head of Patient Experience, said: “We want to know more about patient experience of the RUH and we hope that patients will tell us what they think about their care here, as this will really help us to understand what patients think of our hospital and identify where we need to improve services.
“We would urge all patients who are treated or assessed at the RUH to take the time to tell us what they think. It won’t take long, and the answers given will help us to continue to make improvements.”
Patients at the RUH will be asked to answer the question before going home, or they can answer online within 48 hours of being discharged. All patients are invited and encouraged to respond to the Friends and Family Test question and by doing so, their feedback will provide valuable information to help improve the hospital experience.
By asking the same patient groups the same questions in all acute care hospitals, the published results can be compared side by side as well as comparing wards within a hospital to identify areas for improvement and to provide more information for patients.
