Outpatient department survey
We use national surveys to find out about the experience of patients when receiving care and treatment from healthcare organisations. Between June and October 2011, a questionnaire was sent to patients who had recently attended an outpatient appointment for each NHS trust in England. Responses were received from 376 patients at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust.
7.7
/10
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Before the appointment
for not having to wait long for an appointment, from the time they were first told they needed one.
for being given a choice of appointment times.
for not having the appointment changed to a later date by the hospital.
for knowing what would happen during the appointment.
4.3
/10
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Waiting in the hospital
for starting the appointment on time.
for being told how long the wait would be, for patients waiting longer than 15 minutes.
8.5
/10
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Hospital environment and facilities
for describing the Outpatients Department as clean.
for describing the toilets in the Outpatients Department as clean.
8.3
/10
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Tests and treatments
for being told why tests were needed, in a way they could understand.
for being told how to find out test results.
for having test results explained in a way they could understand.
before the treatment, being told what would happen.
for having risks and benefits of treatment explained in a way they could understand, for patients who received treatment.
9.1
/10
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Seeing a doctor
for having enough time to discuss health and medical problems with the doctor.
for doctors being aware of their medical history.
for feeling the doctor explained treatments or actions in way they could understand.
for feeling the doctor listened to what they had to say.
for getting answers they could understand from their doctor, when they had important questions.
for having confidence and trust in the doctor examining and treating them.
8.7
/10
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Seeing another professional
for getting answers they could understand from health professionals other than their doctor, when they had an important question
for having confidence and trust in other health professionals examining and treating them (not including their doctor).
8.6
/10
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Overall about the appointment
for staff introducing themselves during examinations and treatment.
for staff not talking in front of them, as if they weren´t there.
for being given enough information on condition and treatment.
for being given enough privacy when discussing their condition or treatment.
for not being told one thing by a member of staff and something quite different from another.
for being involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment.
for being asked what was important in managing a condition or illness.
For feeling the appointment helped to better manage a condition or illness.
7.9
/10
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Leaving the outpatients department
for being told how to take new medications.
for having the purpose of medications explained to them in a way they could understand, when given medicines to take home.
for being told about medication side effects to watch out for.
for being told the reason for a change medication in a way they could understand.
for receiving copies of letters sent between hospital doctors and GP.
for being told about danger signals regarding illness or treatment.
for being told who to contact about their condition or treatment after leaving hospital.
8.9
/10
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Overall impression
for being satisfied that the reason for the Outpatient visit was accomplished.
for being treated with respect and dignity.
for how good the overall care was that they received.
About these scores
We asked people to tell us what they thought about different aspects of the care and treatment they received. Each NHS trust received scores out of 10, based on the responses given by their patients'. A higher score is better. Each trust also receives a rating. The rating ‘better’ means that the trust is better than most other trusts who took part in the survey for that particular question, a rating of ‘about the same’ means that the trust is about the same as most other trusts and a rating of ‘worse’ means that the trust did not perform as well as most other trusts for that question.
The results from each NHS trust take into account the age and sex of respondents for each trust, compared with the age and sex of all people across England that returned the questionnaire. This is because trusts have differing profiles of patients. For example, one trust may have more male outpatients than another. This can potentially affect the results because people tend to answer questions in different ways, depending on certain characteristics. This could potentially lead to a trust’s results appearing better or worse than if they had a slightly different profile of patients.
We do not provide a single overall rating for each NHS trust. This would be too simplistic as the survey assesses a number of different aspects of patient experience (such as before the appointment, seeing doctors, medications) and trust performance varies across these different aspects. This means that it is not possible to compare the trusts overall. It is better to look at the trusts in your area and see how they perform across the aspects that are most important to you.
