We use surveys to find out what people think of the NHS healthcare services that they use.

The results help assess NHS performance. We also use them for regulatory activities such as registration, monitoring ongoing compliance and reviews.

You can find out about our most recently published surveys below.

Community mental health survey 2019

Published: November 2019

This survey looked at the experiences of people receiving community mental health services in 2019.

Experiences of being supported with physical health needs and financial advice or benefits declined further this year.

There remains significant scope for improvement for involving people in planning and agreeing the care they receive.

Many people did not know who to contact within the NHS during a crisis.

Those aged 18-35 or diagnosed with non-psychotic chaotic and challenging disorder consistently reported worse than average experiences.

Children and young people's survey 2018

Published: November 2019

This survey looks at the experiences of children, young people and their parents and carers attending hospital.

Overall, children, young people and their parents or carers reported good experiences of care.

The majority of children and young people were positive about communication with hospital staff.

Children, young people, and their parents were less positive about their, or their child’s, experiences of being discharged from hospital.

A small proportion (1%) of children and young people spent most of their hospital stay on an adult ward.

Urgent and emergency care survey 2018

Published: October 2019

This survey collected information on the experiences of more than 50,000 people who received care from urgent and emergency care services in September 2018.

The majority of people were positive about most aspects of the urgent or emergency care they received.

People were positive when answering questions about their interactions with staff.

Some people felt that staff could do more to help control their pain.

Information provision when leaving A&E or the urgent care centre remains a problem for many patients.

Adult inpatient survey 2018

Published: June 2019

This survey looked at the experiences of 76,668 people who were discharged from an NHS acute hospital in July 2018.

Trust in doctors and nurses remains relatively high but has declined slightly since the survey was last carried out in 2017.

Feeling involved in decisions regarding discharge from hospital remains an area that needs improvement.

Patients reported waiting too long at admission and waiting longer than last year at discharge.

People’s experience of the integration of their care has got worse with fewer people reporting discussions with staff about the need for further health and social care services when they left hospital.

Maternity services survey 2018

Published: January 2019

This survey looked at the experiences of more than 17,000 women who had a live birth in early 2018. We found that:

More women were asked how they were feeling emotionally during their antenatal care.

Most women were treated with respect and dignity and had confidence and trust in staff.

Experiences of postnatal care, either in the hospital or at home, were less positive than other stages of the maternity pathway.

Information provision and communication around infant feeding could be improved.

Trends in the Adult Inpatient Survey 2005-2014

Published: November 2015

This analysis looks at the experiences of people receiving adult inpatient services over a ten year period.

Patients’ experiences of care have generally been good.

Most areas we ask patients about have seen little meaningful change or improvement.

Patients report substantial improvements in areas such as cleanliness and mixed sex accommodation.

There have been areas of deterioration, for example in waiting times.

Ambulance survey of Hear and Treat callers 2013/14

Published: 2014

This survey looked at the experiences of over 2,900 people who called an ambulance service in December 2013 and January 2014.

Most people were positive, but some did not understand or agree with the advice given at the end of the call.

Overall, callers were more likely to agree with the decision to not send an ambulance if they had received a full explanation of the reasons.

Outpatient survey 2011

This survey collected patients' experiences of their most recent visit to an outpatient department.

More people felt that they were treated with respect and dignity.

Staff need to improve the way they provide information to patients.