WATCH: The National Inpatient Experience Survey is live in Clare, Limerick and North Tipperary
The fourth National Inpatient Experience Survey is now underway across the University of Limerick Hospital Group. This annual survey offers patients the opportunity to share their experiences in hospital and tell the powers that be, what improvements they believe are necessary. This provides a clear picture of the safety and quality of care in Irish hospitals, as seen through the eyes of patients.
Joe Cassidy, Director of Nursing, Ennis Hospital says, “The ‘What matters to you’ project in Ennis captures what is important to patients in a chart in the patient’s room, the project continues to assist the hospital to improve communication, a Patient Booklet was introduced with information about discharge, medication safety and empowering patients to ask the right questions.
“Virtual visiting and video calls, organised by our PALS managers and nursing teams as well as window visiting and end of life capacity visits were introduced in Ennis during COVID-19 to support our patients at what was a very difficult time.
“We look forward to hearing directly from our patients about what is working well in our hospital, and what areas of care we can work to improve.”
To find out more about the survey, watch our short animation here. You can also visit our website www.yourexperience.ie and follow us on Twitter @CareExperience on Facebook and Instagram.
The National Inpatient Experience Survey contains questions on topics such as admission to hospital, care and treatment on the ward, trust in hospital staff, respect and dignity and discharge from hospital.
The survey will also ask about patients’ experiences of care during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as staff communication while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as contact with family and friends, given visitor restrictions.
An estimated 26,197 patients will be eligible to participate in this year’s survey — including almost 2,418 across the University of Limerick Hospital Group.
Since 2017, almost 40,000 patients have completed the survey nationally.
All patients over 16 years-of-age who spent 24 hours or more in hospital and were discharged during the month of September are eligible to participate.
HIQA’s Director of the National Care Experience Programme, Rachel Flynn, encourages all eligible patients to participate in the survey: “It is important that as many patients as possible tell us about their experiences of care so that we can identify what is working well in our hospitals, and where improvements are needed. This will be patients’ first opportunity to provide feedback since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our hospitals across Ireland – as such gaining insights and feedback is especially important.
“While a number of positive changes were identified and acted on in the previous National Inpatient Experience Survey, a lot more needs to be done. It is by listening and learning from the experiences of patients that we can bring about effective and sustainable changes across the healthcare sector.”
Declan McNamara, Director of Nursing, Medicine Directorate, University Hospital Limerick commented, ”Since the last survey in 2019, we have continued to introduce improvements for our patients in response to feedback, including improved menus and the provision of hot meals in our Emergency Department at UHL.
“During COVID-19, due to restricted visiting in UHL, we provided virtual visits for families to stay in touch with their loved, ones, visiting on compassionate grounds were permitted whilst adhering to strict COVID-19 regulations. We introduced a Patient Belongings Hub for collection and drop off of personal items, and a Virtual Shop to enable families them to order items virtually. Increased single room capacity has also meant greater privacy and dignity for our patients.
Noreen Kennedy, Quality Risk and Patient Safety Manager at St John’s Hospital commented, “Listening to the needs of our patients and responding with solutions is fundamental to how we approach patient-centred care at St. John’s Hospital.
“We have been very cognisant of the impact of COVID-19 upon our patients. As a result of visitor restrictions, nursing teams provided alternative means for patients to communicate with their families, who were greatly comforted by this.
“We look forward to hearing directly from our patients about what is working well in our hospital, and where we can make further improvements in our services.”
Majella Corkery, Director of Nursing, Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, says: “Following feedback from the 2019 survey we introduced our Medication Awareness Programme, ‘Know Check Ask’. We continue to embrace initiatives such as #Hellomynameis encouraging staff to use first names when interacting with patients and public.
“During COVID-19, the new Maigue Unit opened, with en-suite facilities and a dedicated room for family meetings which has meant increased privacy and dignity for patients. The new unit also has a beautiful seated garden area for patients on the grounds.
“We look forward to hearing directly from our patients about what is working well in our hospital, and what areas of care we can work to improve.”
Cathrina Ryan, Operational Director of Nursing, Nenagh Hospital, commented: “Listening to the needs of our patients and responding with solutions is fundamental to how we approach patient-centred care at Nenagh Hospital. Following feedback from the 2019 survey, we made improvements in areas such as discharge planning and communications with the introduction a patient booklet informing and empowering patients to ask the right questions of medical and nursing staff.
“Healthcare teams in Nenagh are encouraged to take ‘Time Out’ to link with families and provide updates from nursing, allied health and medical staff while visiting was restricted during COVID-19.