National Patient Survey results released by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have highlighted areas of progress and opportunities for elevating patient care within Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.
The findings of the survey, conducted among adult inpatients at the Trust between July and November 2023, showed LTH has made significant strides in key areas central to our commitment to excellent patient care.
In terms of Doctor-Patient Communication, patients reported that doctors answered their questions in a way they could understand, while there was positive feedback on care quality, as patients shared their satisfaction with the overall quality of care provided during their stay.
While areas saw positive progress, it was noted that one area that requires attention. Some patients felt there was a decline in staff involving family or carers in discussions about leaving the hospital.
The Trust acknowledges the need for immediate action to address patient feedback and improve patient experience.
Key themes identified for improvement include reducing the time patients wait to get onto a bed on the ward, ensuring patients are not disturbed at night, offering food that meets dietary requirements and improving the quality of hospital food.
Other areas include ensuring patients are involved in decisions about their care, providing the right amount of information about conditions or treatments, taking existing individual needs into account, and improving involvement in discharge decisions, providing adequate notice, and ensuring patients know what to expect after leaving the hospital.
Next steps will involve metrics being developed to track improvements in real-time, and patient feedback themes will be integrated into STAR (Situation or Task, Action, Result) processes for ongoing audit and quality assurance.
The Safety and Quality Committee is recommended to review the outcomes of the 2023 Picker National Inpatient Survey and the action plan developed in response to the findings.
This will help improve patient experience in line with the patient experience and involvement strategy.
The survey saw an improved response rate, increasing from 38% in 2022 to 40% in 2023. This feedback is crucial for understanding patient perspectives and enhancing the quality of care provided.
Nationally, patient experience scores remain lower than pre-COVID levels, with common issues including delays in accessing care and lack of coordination in discharge processes.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals' results reflect these challenges, with the Trust now ranked 52nd out of 64 Trusts surveyed by Picker, compared to 50th out of 70 in 2022.
John Howles, Associate Director of Quality and Experience, said: “We recognise the importance of patient feedback through this survey and collectively we will be working to improve the areas highlighted alongside our patients and staff.”
