University Hospitals of Derby and Burton rated in top 20 trusts nationally by patients for overall hospital experience
Patients who have stayed overnight in UHDB hospitals have rated their overall experience as being in the top 20 acute trusts nationally, according to the results of a national survey.
The National Adult Inpatient Survey, run by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) every year, seeks the views of adult inpatients (aged at least 16-years-old) who spent at least one night in our hospitals during 2023. Last year 131 NHS acute trusts in England took part, with 594 inpatients at UHDB taking the time to reflect on their care in our hospitals.
In total, 84% of UHDB patients felt they had a 'very good' experience in our hospitals, with the Trust scoring in the top 20% in several areas, including 97% of patients stating they were given enough privacy during their treatments or examinations, and 81% of patients feeling well supported to eat during mealtimes.
Patients also commented that colleagues considered their existing individual needs during their care, that they felt able to get help from a colleague when they needed it, and that they were helped to wash and stay clean during their stay in hospital, which also placed UHDB in the top 20% of trusts nationally in these areas.
Donna Bird, Director of Nursing at UHDB, said: "Colleagues across our Trust work hard every day to provide not only the best care, but the best experience for our patients, and are always seeking to make improvements where they can. It is fantastic to see their continued efforts to enhance the time our patients spend in our hospitals reflected in this way."
Alongside these areas of high performance, UHDB's most improved area was access to food outside of set mealtimes for patients, which was scored at 69% in the latest results versus 63% in 2022. This is in addition to 89% of patients stating they had a good choice of meals which met their dietary needs and requirements.
Donna added: "We know how important it is for patients to feel comfortable in our hospitals, and having access to high quality food and nutrition is a key part of this. We have worked hard to continue to build on improvements in recent years in the past 12 months, so it is great to see this reflected in how our patients feel they can access food at times to suit them, and that they feel supported during our structured mealtimes."
While patients highlighted several areas where they felt supported, there were also areas patients felt UHDB can improve, including more effective planning of discharges from hospital and the time patients spent on waiting lists for procedures and appointments.
Teams across the Trust have been utilising different ways of working to help improve waiting times, including additional clinics at weekends and opening new facilities like the Kings Treatment Centre which will support an additional 2,500 patients a year for daycase and other surgeries.
New roles have been created in the Trust's Discharge Assessment Unit, which supports patients to leave hospital, to help make sure people get home or to their next place of care as quickly and easily as possible. The Trust has also recruited additional healthcare support workers, who play a big role in supporting patients with essential care needs like help at mealtimes and with personal hygiene.
"I would like to thank the hundreds of patients who shared their views with us," said Donna. "Not only to highlight areas in which we are doing well, but also to help us to focus our efforts and make improvements where there is still work to be done. We are committed to providing the best possible experience for our patients during their hospital stays and will strive to sustain these improvements in the next year and beyond."
UHDB was rated as much better, better, or somewhat better than most trusts in seven areas; the same as other trusts in 41 areas; and worse than other trusts in only one area.
Visit the CQC website for more information about the Adult inpatient survey 2023 (opens in new window) >, including national and Trust-specific results.