Top marks for Royal Surrey single sex accomodation

Inpatients at the Royal Surrey County Hospital have for the second year running given the highest scores in Surrey for the provision of single sex accommodation and facilities.    

In the 2009 Care Quality Commission Inpatient Survey 89% of inpatients said that they were able to stay in single sex accommodation – an increase of 5% since 2008.  85% said that they had the use of single sex bathrooms. 

The Trust also scored well for patient privacy and 88% said they were always given enough privacy when being examined or treated.

Patients were also happy with the care they received overall and 93% described the care as excellent, very good or good.  98% of patients said they were treated with dignity and respect and 97% of patients described the hospital ward as very or fairly clean.  98% said hand washing facilities were always available.

Sue Lewis, Director of Nursing and Operations and Deputy Chief Executive said:

“We have seen many improvements in this year’s survey compared to last in areas such as single sex accommodation and cleanliness.  Our results also show that we continue to score well on key issues affecting our patients’ experience such as the quality of care, privacy and being treated with dignity and respect. 

“This survey is only once a year, so to ensure that we are regularly collecting feedback from our patients the Trust has its own inpatient survey.  As a result of our survey we have taken a very close look at the quality of food, the discharge process for patients and answering the call button on the wards.  It is very encouraging that all of these issues are now showing improvements in the CQC’s national survey.” 

There were also improved scores for noise on wards at night, hand cleaning by nurses and doctors, involving family and friends in decision making and opportunities to talk to doctors.

The Care Quality Commission survey was carried out between September 2009 and January 2010 and 471 patients responded to the survey.  The survey covers all 165 acute and specialist hospital trusts in England and scores have been compared for questions covering care in A&E, quality of care, doctors and nurses’ attitudes and information. 

 The Royal Surrey was also recently named as one of the 40 Top Hospitals in the country and Top 100 Healthcare employer.