Cork patients urged to share experiences of hospital care during pandemic

THE National Inpatient Experience Survey asking patients to share their experiences of hospital care during the pandemic has gone live across the South-South West Hospital Group.

The annual survey offers patients the opportunity to share their experiences of being in hospital and to tell the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) what improvements they believe are necessary, providing a clear picture of the safety and quality of care in Irish hospitals as seen through the eyes of patients.

The survey contains questions on topics such as admission to hospital, care and treatment on the ward, trust in hospital staff, respect and dignity, and discharge from hospital.

The survey will also ask about patients’ experiences of care during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as staff communication while wearing personal protective equipment as well as contact with family and friends, given visitor restrictions.

An estimated 26,197 patients will be eligible to participate in this year’s survey, including over 5,258 people across counties Cork, Waterford, Kerry, and South Tipperary.

Since 2017, almost 40,000 patients have completed the survey nationally.

All patients over 16 years of age who spent 24 hours or more in hospital and were discharged during September are eligible to participate.

Hiqa’s director of the national care experience programme, Rachel Flynn, has encouraged all eligible patients to participate in the survey.

“It is important that as many patients as possible tell us about their experiences of care so that we can identify what is working well in our hospitals, and where improvements are needed,” she said.

“This will be patients’ first opportunity to provide feedback since the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our hospitals across Ireland — as such gaining insights and feedback is especially important.

“While a number of positive changes were identified and acted on in the previous National Inpatient Experience Survey, a lot more needs to be done. It is by listening and learning from the experiences of patients that we can bring about effective and sustainable changes across the healthcare sector,” she said.

South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital CEO Helen Donovan said: “Listening to the needs of our patients and responding with solutions is fundamental to how we approach patient-centred care at South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital. On foot of the feedback received from the 2019 National Inpatient Experience Survey, we have made improvements in developing the #hellomynameis campaign, patient discharge leaflet, standardised drug charts, improved signage.

“We promote and encourage feedback directly from our patients about what is working well in our hospital, and we constantly strive to address any identified areas of care/concern we can work on to improve.”

Mercy University Hospital CEO Sandra Daly said that the survey plays a “crucial role in obtaining the patient perspective” with a view to establishing a safe, compassionate, and patient-focused service culture at the hospital.

“We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to our patients for providing us with their valuable feedback in previous surveys,” she said. “Unfortunately, the 2020 survey could not be conducted due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the health service. Therefore, we are encouraging our patients to participate in the 2021 survey and hope to build on the high percentage of responses that we have had in previous years.”