Tuesday 12th October 2010

North Derbyshire's patients are being asked to tell Chesterfield Royal how it can improve it's services.

850 questionnaires have been sent out to patients who had at least one overnight stay during August 2010 asking them for feedback on experiences ranging from quality of care, pain control, hospital food, cleanliness and information given during their stay.

Chief Executive Eric Morton said: "We pride ourselves on public engagement and listening to the patients that use our services and surveys like this one are important to help us find out what we’re doing right and where we could improve. 

"This survey touches on a wide range of experiences that patient will encounter and covers such detail as how our doctors and nurses talk to patients and convey information to privacy and the meals they’re given. The whole patient experience is available to comment on in this survey and we would urge anyone who receives one to fill it in and help us shape our future services." 

Every NHS hospital in the country will take part in the Care Quality Commission's National In-patient Survey that is now in its eighth year. The Royal was placed in the top 20% of achievers in a number of fields last year, including ward cleanliness, privacy and team work amongst staff, whilst scoring the same or better than other trusts in all but two of the 64 questions asked.

Mr Morton added: "We have acted on the two areas where we didn't score so well by introducing volume controlled nurse call systems, soft lighting and more single bays to increase comfort at night. We've also improved communications between the Trust and GPs including a new, dedicated, password protected section of our Internet."

The questionnaire is being sent out now , with results published on the Care Quality Commission's website, expected in Spring 2011.

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