Our Catering teams can be celebrating today following the publication of the 2018 Inpatient Report.
Our food rating has shown the biggest improvement of all categories and is a reflection of all the hard work from our teams behind the scenes in the kitchens, the menu and choices provided and the ward delivery services.
Away from food, our care post-discharge also continues to be rated better than most Trusts, our care received many scores of 9 and above and, as always, there are areas where we can improve.
More than 140 NHS acute trusts in England were surveyed. The 2019 survey will be asking patients who are with us during next month*.
Patients were asked about their experience of:
- The Emergency /A&E department
- Waiting list and planned admissions
- Food
- The hospital and ward
- Doctors and nurses
- Care and treatment
- Operations and procedures
- Leaving hospital
- Overall views and experience
The food rating increased significantly from 5.1 to 5.8 so we had to ask our Catering Heads, Adrian (HRI) and Lina (CRH) what's behind their ratings boost.
Adrian said at HRI traditional meals such as cottage pie and fish and chips are always most popular and chocolate sponge and custard tops the desserts choice. He also revealed that vegetarian sausage hot pot is a surprise hit. He said his teams provide quality and service with smile.
Looking to the future he added: " We do not like to sit on our laurels and we are always looking to improve in any way we can. We are currently in the process of implementing an electronic meal collation system for our staff to use, with a view to eventually having picture menus on the system. This will improve our service for patients that have speech and language difficulties."
CRH's head, Lina D'Italia Riley, said: "Roast Chicken and lasagne are the favourites on our menus. The traditional dishes are the most popular with the desserts going down a storm. Sticky toffee pudding, apple crumble, ginger sponge all with custard go down well.
And she hailed her team. " Our dedicated team in Calderdale are happy to provide a quality service to patients and staff alike."
Discharge matron, Rachel Rae, said "Our integration and co-location with Social Care and fantastic relationships with our partners, has made the biggest difference to our complex and elderly patients when it comes to discharge. The trusted assessor role for the Discharge Team staff has ensured delays are much reduced; trust in general terms enables us to do the best for our patients without duplication".
And feedback from a patient's daughter brings home the importance of the service: "‘We were at breaking point the care, patients and knowledge of community services of our Discharge Co-ordinator got us to where we needed to be".
How our patients rated their care?
When patients were asked "After leaving hospital, did you get enough support from health or social care professionals to help you recover and manage your condition? we scored 7.3
The Trust continued to score well in response to the following questions (all higher than 9):
- Were you given enough privacy when being examined or treated in the A+E Department? 9.1
- Was your admission date changed by the hospital? 9.1
- While in hospital, did you ever share a sleeping area, for example a room or bay, with patients of the opposite sex? 9.5
- In your opinion, how clean was the hospital room or ward that you were in? 9.3
- During your time in hospital, did you get enough to drink? 9.6
- Did you feel well looked after by the non-clinical hospital staff (e.g. cleaners, porters, catering staff)? 9.1
- Did nurses talk in front of you as if you weren’t there? 9.0
- Were you given enough privacy when being examined or treated? 9.6
- Overall, did you feel you were treated with respect and dignity while you were in the hospital? 9.0
The Trust’s results were significantly lower this year for 4 questions:
- Were you given clear written or printed information about your medicines? From 8.1 to 7.2
- Did hospital staff tell you who to contact if you were worried about your condition or treatment after you left hospital? 8.4 to 7.8
- During your hospital stay, were you ever asked to give your views on the quality of your care? 2.5 to 1.7
- Did you see, or were you given, any information explaining how to complain to the hospital about the care you received? 2.6 to 1.9
** Patients are eligible to take part in the survey if they have had at least one overnight stay within a trust during July 2018 and were aged 16 years or older, and are not currently an inpatient. The Trust received 499 responses giving a response rate of 42%. The national response rate of 45%. The Care Quality Commission uses the results from the survey in their regulation, monitoring and inspection of NHS acute trusts in England.
