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In the inpatient survey, just over half (52%) of the respondents were admitted to hospital as an emergency and just under half (48%) had planned or waiting list admissions.

Over one-third of respondents (36%) who were admitted as an emergency reported that they either did not have to wait at all before they were admitted to a room, ward or bed, or waited for less than one hour in the A&E department or the Medical Admissions Unit. Just over one-quarter of respondents (28%) had to wait for between 1-4 hours. One third of respondents (33%) were kept waiting for 4 hours or more, with 6% waiting over 12 hours. The remaining 3% of patients could not remember how long they had waited.

Respondents were asked how they felt about the length of time they spent on the waiting list. Most respondents (68%) who had been on a waiting list and whose admission to hospital had been planned in advance thought they were admitted as soon as was necessary. One-fifth (20%) thought that they should have been admitted a bit sooner and 12% of respondents thought they should have been admitted a lot sooner.

The majority (96%) of those who had a planned admission felt they had been given enough notice of their admission date - only 4% felt they had not had enough notice.

In most cases (79%), the admission date originally given to the patient was not changed by the hospital. However, one-fifth of patients (21%) said that their admission date was changed at least once by the hospital and a quarter of these respondents had their admission date changed at least twice by the hospital.

Two-thirds of respondents did not feel they had to wait a long time to get to their room, ward or bed. However, one-third felt they had, either definitely (13%) or to some extent (20%), waited a long time to get to a ward and bed.

Respect and dignity

Overall, three-quarters of respondents (75%) had not shared a room or ward with patients of the opposite sex at all during their inpatient stay, but one-quarter (25%) of respondents had been accommodated in mixed-sex wards.

Most respondents (69%) reported that they were always given enough privacy when discussing their treatment and a higher proportion (87%) of respondents were always given enough privacy when being examined. However, 10% of respondents reported they were not given enough privacy when discussing their condition or treatment and 3% were not given enough privacy when being examined.

Overall, the majority (79%) of respondents felt that they had always been treated with respect and dignity throughout their stay. However, 18% reported they had only been treated with respect and dignity sometimes and 3% of respondents felt they had not been treated with respect and dignity whilst in hospital.

Information and education

Most respondents (83%) who were admitted to hospital as an emergency, felt that they did get enough information about their medical condition or treatment whilst in the Accident and Emergency department (or the Medical Admissions Unit), either definitely (43%), or to some extent (40%). Some (14%) felt that they did not get enough information and 3% didn't want any information.

More than half of respondents (57%) reported that they could always understand the answers given by doctors. About one-quarter said that they could only sometimes understand the answers given (26%). Only 5% could not understand the answers given and the remaining 12% of the respondents felt they had no need to ask the doctor any questions.

Over half of respondents could always understand the answers given (54%), just over one-quarter could understand sometimes (26%), but 5% of respondents could not understand the answers given by nurses. The remaining 15% of respondents felt they did not need to ask the nursing staff any questions.

Most respondents (60%) agreed that they had completely understood the explanations given by staff of the purpose of any medicines they were required to take at home. However, one-sixth of respondents had either understood the explanation given to some extent (11%) or did not understand at all (5%). The remaining one-quarter of respondents either did not need any explanation (11%) or did not have to take any medicines after leaving hospital (14%).

Patients who had been given medicines to take at home were also asked whether a member of staff had informed them about any medication side effects to watch for. Over one-quarter (28%) of these respondents agreed that they had been completely informed of the side effects. Over two-fifths (43%) of respondents felt they had either been only partially informed (12%) or had not been advised of any side effects (31%). The remaining 30% of respondents felt that they didn't need any explanation of the side effects of their medication.

About two-fifths (41%) of respondents agreed that they had been given complete advice about any danger signals regarding their illness or treatment to watch out for when they returned home. One-fifth (20%) felt that this issue had been discussed to some extent. The remaining two-fifths (39%) reported that they had not been advised of any danger signals to watch for after they were discharged from hospital.

Just under half of the respondents (48%) agreed that their family had been given sufficient information to help them recover after they returned home, either completely (31%) or to some extent (17%). Nearly a quarter of respondents felt that their family or close friend had not been given sufficient information to help them recover (23%). In other cases, the respondent either felt that the family didn't want or need any such information (17%), or there were no family or friends involved in caring for the patient after they had returned home (13%).

Involvement and choice

Patients were asked whether doctors and nursing staff had talked in front of them, as if they weren't there (rather than involving the patient). Most patients (71%) reported that doctors had not done this and nursing staff were even less likely to do so (81% did not). However, over a quarter of patients reported that this had happened amongst doctors, either sometimes (23%) or often (6%). About a fifth of patients felt that this had occurred amongst nurses, either sometimes (15%) or often (4%).

Almost half the respondents (46%) had wanted to be more involved in decisions about their care and treatment, either definitely (19%) or to some extent (27%).

In over half of cases, the respondents said their family/carer were able to talk to a doctor, either definitely (30%), or to some extent (27%). For other patients, either the family didn't want or need any further information from the doctor (17%), or the patient did not want them to talk to the doctor (4%), or there were no family or friends involved (9%). However, 14% of respondents had wanted their family/carer to talk to a doctor, but they did not have enough opportunity to do so.

In just under half of cases (46%), the respondents felt that it was not necessary to discuss the need for further health or social care services after leaving hospital (such as a district nurse, care assistant, physiotherapist or social workers). But amongst those who did, almost one-third (33%) reported that the hospital staff did not discuss their requirements with them.

Physical and emotional needs

Just under half (47%) of all respondents reported that they were Whether bothered by noise at night, from at least one source. Over one-third were disturbed by noise from other patients on the ward (37%); about one-sixth were disturbed by noise from staff (15%) and some (5%) were bothered by noise from other sources.

Most (79%) of patients did not need any help eating their meals. But of those who did, almost one-fifth did not get help when they needed it and a further 25% only sometimes got help at the appropriate time.

Around two-thirds of respondents experienced some pain whilst in hospital (68%). Of these, most (73%) felt that staff had definitely done everything they could to control their pain. But 27% of respondents thought staff could have done more.

A third of respondents had no concerns and just over half (55%) were able to find someone on the hospital staff to talk to about their concerns, either completely (29%) or to some extent (26%). However, 11 % of patients had concerns, but they were unable to find anyone to talk to.

Most respondents (70%) reported that the doctor had discussed any anxieties or fears about their condition or treatment with them completely (42%) or to some extent (28%). Another 8% reported that the doctor did not discuss their concerns about their condition or treatment with them and the remaining 22% did not have any such concerns.

Over three-fifths (61%) of patients were able to discuss any anxieties or concerns about their condition or treatment with nursing staff. One-third of all respondents reported that they had discussed their concerns completely with a nurse (33%) and over a quarter had done so, to some extent (28%). A tenth reported that the nursing staff did not discuss the patient's concerns with them, and the remaining 28% had no such concerns.

Coordination of care

Most respondents (95%) reported that the hospital admission process (whether planned or emergency admission) was either very organised (58%), or fairly organised (37%). Around 5% of respondents felt that the admission process was not at all organised.

Amongst the respondents who had been admitted in an emergency, most (94%) found that the care they received in the Accident and Emergency (or the Medical Admissions unit) was either very organised (56%) or fairly organised (38%). Only 6% reported that their care at this stage of the admission process was not at all organised.

Once on the ward, two-thirds (66%) of inpatients said that there was one doctor in overall charge of their care. Just under one-fifth said there appeared to be no single doctor responsible for their care (19%) and the remaining 15% of respondents said they didn't know whether there was one doctor in charge of their care or not.

Around one-third of patients reported that there was one nurse in overall charge of their care (36%). But almost half of the respondents said there was not one nurse in overall charge of their care (45%) and the remaining 19% of respondents did not know whether there was or not.

Patients were asked whether doctors and nurses had given them conflicting information. Most respondents (70%) said that this did not happen, but almost a quarter (24%) reported that it had sometimes happened and 6% of respondents said it often happened.

In most cases (87%) patients were not asked for their name and address more often than they thought necessary, although this was reported by 13% of respondents.

Two-thirds of patients had tests, x-rays or scans (apart from blood or urine tests) whilst in hospital. These were always performed on time for most respondents (71%). However, one-fifth of respondents reported that they were only sometimes performed on time (21%) and the remaining 8% said their tests were not performed on time.

Just under half of the respondents (48%) reported that their discharge had been delayed, for one or more reasons. In some cases, the delay was due to the patient's own health (9% of respondents). About a quarter of patients were delayed due to waiting for medicines or drugs to be issued (26%) and others were delayed by waiting to see the doctor before they could be discharged (12%), or because they had to wait for an ambulance (5%), or for any other reason (6%).

Environment and facilities

Two-thirds of respondents (67%) stayed in a bay-ward with between 2-6 patients. About a sixth (18%) stayed on a large open plan ward and another sixth (16%) stayed either in a room by themselves (12%) or shared with one other patient (4%).

Just over half of respondents (57%) reported that the ward was very clean and around a third found the ward fairly clean (36%). About 7% of respondents reported the ward was not very or not at all clean.

Only half (50%) of patients rated bathrooms and toilets as very clean and about a third rated them as fairly clean (37%). Bathrooms and toilets were reported to be not very or not at all clean by 11% of respondents (the remaining 2% did not use a toilet or bathroom).

Around 4% of patients did not have any food during their stay. Of those respondents who did, two-thirds rated the food as good (36%) or fair (31%). Just over one-sixth rated the food as very good (18%) and just under one-sixth rated the food as poor (15%).

Most people (82%) reported receiving the right amount of food. Only 4% had too much food, but 14% of patients felt they did not have enough food whilst in hospital.

Overall impression

Overall, three-quarters (74%) of respondents rated the care they received as excellent (38%) or very good (36%). Most (92%) respondents said they would definitely (64%) or probably (28%) recommend the hospital from which they had recently been discharged to their family and friends.