88% of patients rate A&E care as "good" or better

16 January 2009

The recent Healthcare Commission survey included responses from just under 50,000 patients over age 16 who had visited an A&E or emergency department between January and March 2008. It was carried out by 151 hospital trusts. The results have been published on the Commission's website.

Highlights include:

88% of patients rate the care they received at A&E as "excellent", "very good" or "good"
69% of patients who travelled to A&E in an ambulance rated the care they received from the ambulance staff as "excellent".
69 % of patients said that they definitely had enough time to discuss their problem (up from 62% in 2003/4)
76% of patients said that they were definitely listened to by doctors and nurses (up from73% in 2003).

But the survey results also highlight some key areas of concern.

59% of people said staff definitely did everything they could to help control pain, a further 27% said they did to some extent and 14% said they did not. This shows some progress since 2003 and 2004, but the Commission says further improvement is needed in this area as a whole.
Only about a third of patiernts (37%) said they were given a complete explanation of possible side effects of their medication.
Only 37% said they definitely received information about when they can resume activities such as driving or going back to work
Around half of patients went to A&E by car, yet one in four people found it difficult to find a convenient place to park on arrival.

Follow this link for more on this story: Healthcare Commission

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