Patients Ensure Weston’s A&E Dept Scores Well in National Survey

The survey, published today by the Care Quality Commission, covers A&E Departments across England.

A total of 850 recent users of the Weston General Hospital A&E Department were sent postal questionnaires to complete and 40 per cent of them responded.

The national survey was last conducted in 2008, since when the A&E Dept at Weston has moved into newer, more spacious and modern accommodation, and this is reflected in improved results in this year's survey.

Two areas where the Trust scored particularly well were:

• Privacy at reception when discussing condition and;
• Dept being very clean

It also scored above average for:

• Waiting less than two hours to be examined
• Doctors/nurses fully discussing the patients' anxieties and fears with them and:
• Patients not feeling bothered or threatened by other patients

There was one area where the Dept scored poorly, which was some patients reporting that they were not told how long they would have to wait to be examined.

Here are a selection of verbatim comments from patients who took part in the survey:

• Staff very polite and helpful - no complaints at all
• The nurses who treated me were excellent - extremely understanding and caring
• Excellent service and treatment
• Doctors & nurses were very kind
• I have absolutely no complaints about my treatment in A&E and in hospital afterwards
• The nurses and doctors were very understanding - quick and precise with the treatment and aftercare
• They were very caring - when I needed anything the staff were there straight away
• All staff were very nice and showed lots of understanding
• It made me feel safe with caring people

Weston Area Health NHS Trust Director of Nursing Irene Gray said: "It was a pleasure to see the results of this survey which clearly illustrates the value of our Accident and Emergency department to our community.

"We spend a lot of time explaining to people that it is for Emergency situations only and they should not come to us when they could be treated more appropriately by their pharmacist or GP.

"But this survey shows that when people really need emergency help, they trust us to deliver it to them in a safe and caring manner with high-quality outcomes.

"It was particularly pleasing to see the scores go up in regard to matters such as improved privacy at reception which was at the forefront of our minds when we were designing the new Emergency Department, which opened in the spring of 2011.

"However, we are not complacent as we realise this is a particularly sensitive area and we continue to work to improve patient privacy here.

"We now plan to review our electronic signage in the department so that patients will be able to see our anticipated waiting times displayed and we will be asking our triage nurses to advise newly-arrived patients of their expected waiting time as well."

It is the second time this week that Weston has scored well in independent assessments of its services. The Trust was named in the top six most clinically efficient hospitals in England in the 2012 Dr Foster Hospital Guide on Monday (3).

The full survey results can be found on the CQC website www.cqc.org.uk

For further information, please contact Caroline Welch on 01934 647091 or carolinewelch@nhs.net