Results of Patients Surveys

St John's Hospice participated in the 2008/09 Hospice Patient Survey into patient satisfaction with in-patient and day services carried out by Help the Hospices and the Centre for Health Services Studies (CHSS) at the University of Kent. The survey offers hospices the opportunity to monitor their progress over time, to be benchmarked and to compare themselves with other hospices.

The method of data collection was a self-completion questionnaire, with one questionnaire for adult users of day services and other for in-patient services. We distributed a questionnaire and accompanying information letter to in-patients at discharge and to people using day service either on discharge or after two months after admission. To reduce bias, questionnaires were filled out by patients at home and then sent back to CHSS, and not the hospice.

From the survey, we found that there were some things that we did that were very highly regarded:

• 96% of people who attended day services felt confident that there were enough staff or volunteers around to offer help if needed
• 94% of people were satisfied with their involvement in care planning
• 92% of people felt that the staff made an effort to meet their individual needs and wishes
• 91% of people who attended day services said they had confidence in the staff who were caring for them
• 90% of people felt that their privacy needs were met
• 89% of people felt they had the opportunity to ask questions when they wanted
• 85% of people felt that they understood the explanations about care they were given

However, there were things that we could have done better:

• 28% of people attending day services were aware of an information leaflet or booklet
• 28% of people did not know what to do if they wanted to make a complaint.