East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust shows ‘real improvement’

The latest Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) A&E patient experience survey has shown great improvement since the last carried out two years ago.

Patients who took part in the national survey of NHS emergency departments reported improvements in 31 out of 35 categories for the Trust’s services compared to the last results in 2014.

The survey, which was sent to patients who used the service in October 2016, covered a range of areas including: arrival at the emergency department; waiting times; doctors and nurses; care and treatment; diagnostic tests; the hospital’s environment and facilities; leaving the emergency department; respect and dignity; and overall experience.

Liz Lees, the Trust’s director of nursing, said: “It is very heartening to see that all the hard work of our emergency department staff over the last couple of years has begun to pay off. The CQC’s 2016 survey reported improvements in virtually every aspect of the services provided to patients compared to the results from 2014. Out of the 35 areas on which people fed back their experiences, we saw improvements in 31, with a further one remaining the same as reported in 2014.

“There was only one area – ambulance crews handover – where the Trust performed significantly worse than in 2014. The CQC’s latest survey, which took place in October 2016, happened before quite dramatic improvements were made to handover times earlier this year, taking the Trust from one of the poorest performers
to the best in the region.”