A TOTAL of 98 per cent of in-patients were satisfied with the care they received at Noble's Hospital, a survey has revealed.
But the in-patient quality survey 2009-2010 does show 30 per cent of patients had their discharge delayed for one reason or another.
And 28 per cent of patients reported being bothered by noise at night from other patients while 14 per cent reported being bothered by noise from hospital staff at night.
Noble's Hospital's patient safety and quality forum - which consists of a group of eight hospital and eight patient/public representatives - commissioned the survey.
It was conducted between August 1 2009 and March 31 2010 and survey booklets were handed to patients as they were discharged and they replied anonymously.
A total of 6,907 in-patients received the booklet but only nine per cent - 638 - were returned by post.
However the Department of Health said this was a good response for a reply by post.
The forum was very encouraged by the responses received, with 98 per cent of patients rating their care as good, very good or excellent.
Health Minister David Anderson said: "I would like to thank the patient safety and quality forum at Noble’s Hospital for undertaking this quite substantial piece of work.
"I think the staff at Noble’s Hospital can be very proud of the results.
"Whilst I recognise that we don’t always get everything right for every patient and their family, these survey results show that the majority of patients are happy with the care they receive at Noble’s, which I’m delighted with."
Areas where improvements have been identified consist of patient inclusion in decision-making about their treatment and care, communication and planning and arrangements for discharge home from hospital.
Medical director Stephen Upsdell said: "Following on from this, we will now undertake a significant project to improve the discharge planning from Noble’s Hospital, which seems to be our greatest area for development according to the patients."
Janet Bailey, public representative on the patient safety and quality forum said: "We developed the survey to take into account all aspects of the patient's journey from admission to discharge, with the objective of gaining a transparent overview of the patient's experiences and perceptions of their care.
"Whilst we are delighted with such a large percentage of patients rating their care so highly, we are not complacent and recognise that for some patients aspects of their journey did not always meet their expectations.
"We take this feedback very seriously and have studied the findings very carefully. As a result we have developed an action plan and with the support of the clinical governance committee will be feeding this back to staff and supporting them to implement sustainable improvements in care delivered to patients."
Director of Nursing Bev Critchlow said the survey is similar to those used by the NHS in the UK.
And while 98 per cent of patients who responded to the survey may be satisfied by the care, Bev said: "You can't sit on your laurels, we still need to make sure we do the right thing for those (other) two per cent of people."
It is anticipated the survey could be carried out every two years but that has not been confirmed as of yet.
