CQC Welcomes Kings Fund Report On Patient Experience In Hospitals Over The Last Ten Years

Prof Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals at the Care Quality Commission, said: “We welcome the publication of the Kings Fund’s analysis of a decade’s worth of inpatient survey results.

“It is encouraging that patients are reporting improved care experiences in areas such as mixed sex accommodation and in cleanliness.

“While the results indicate that people’s experiences have been largely positive, overall there has not been much change over the last ten years and there have even been some areas of deterioration, such as with patient flow.

“We are clear that patient feedback should be a key driver for quality improvement in the NHS.

“How providers consider and act on patient feedback, including complaints and survey findings, is a core element of our inspections. Where a provider does not have systems in place to do this effectively, this would make us question the quality of its leadership and how ‘caring’ and ‘responsive’ its care can be.

“We encourage NHS trusts to reflect on their findings to understand what their patients really think about the care and treatment they provide, so that they can identify what is working well and what should change.”