Quality Improvement

Our patients' views are extremely important to us.  As well as seeking ad hoc patient feedback, we participate in regular surveys to find out what our patients are saying about our services. This includes participating in the national survey programme which includes the annual inpatient survey as well as regular local surveys and national assessments.  We also carry out snapshot surveys from time to time on specific issues.   

Getting it right
We encourage our patients to tell us about their experiences, and one way in which do this is through our ‘Getting it Right’ survey. This enables us to get a view of inpatient and outpatient experience across our Trust, right down to individual wards and clinics. Each month we receive over 500 responses to these surveys. The survey data features in our Quality Account which includes details of the quality improvements made and sets the direction for further improvements.

National Patient Surveys
Health services should be shaped by what matters most to patients and the public. The NHS patient survey programme enables the Care Quality Commission and others to build up a national picture of people's experience. We are currently taking part in the Community Mental Health Survey 2012 and Accident and Emergency Survey 2012.

Clinical Audit
Clinical audit is concerned with improving the quality of health care and is a way of finding out whether the quality of our services meets defined standards. We have an annual programme of audits and participate in national as well as local audits throughout the Trust. Completed audits are presented at speciality audit or team meetings allowing healthcare staff the opportunity to discuss how change could be made and to take positive action to enable this. 

Quality Account 2013.pdf (1.90 MB)