Patients share experiences of Shropshire A&Es in new survey

The Care Quality Commission carried out the survey looking at the experiences of patients attending urgent and emergency care services at 126 NHS trusts during the pandemic.

The results, which have recently been published, show Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) scored worse than other trusts in the 'overall patient experience' of A&E, although it seemed to be on par with other trusts in areas such as waiting times, ambulance handovers and receiving help from staff.

Hospital bosses at SaTH have welcomed the feedback and said "at a time of unprecedented levels of demand for urgent care, we will continue to look to improve the service we offer our communities".

They also pointed out that since the survey, there has been major investment in the trust's urgent and emergency care provision.

The CQC asked people to answer questions about different aspects of their care and treatment.

Based on their responses, the watchdog gave each NHS trust a score out of 10 for each question – the higher the score the better.

Each trust also received a rating of ‘better’, ‘about the same’ or ‘worse’ compared to most other trusts that took part in the survey.

Responses were received from 407 people at SaTH, which runs Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

For 'overall patient experience' the trust scored 7.8 out of 10, with a rating of 'worse' compared with other trusts.

It was also ranked 'worse' for patients being treated with respect and dignity, feeling they were listened to and for being able to access suitable food and drink while in the emergency departments.

It was 'about the same' in many other categories, including waiting to speak to a doctor or nurse, for being given the right amount of information about their condition or treatment and cleanliness.

Nigel Lee, chief operating officer at SaTH, said: “We welcome the valuable feedback that this survey gives us, both on those areas where we are doing well and where we need do more, and at a time of unprecedented levels of demand for urgent care, we will continue to look to improve the service we offer our communities.

“Since the survey was undertaken, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have undertaken major investment in our urgent and emergency care provision, including the opening of a new same day emergency care centre, to help reduce hospital admissions and improve patient experience, and a £9.3m expansion and upgrade of the emergency department at the RSH.”