Inpatient Experience Survey 2018: technical report

This report provides information on the technical aspects of the 2018 Inpatient Experience Survey, including development, implementation, analysis and reporting.


7. Survey Response

Overview

The response rate for the survey is the number of completed questionnaires returned as a percentage of the number of people in the sample. In total, 51,440 surveys were sent out and 20,809 were returned completed, giving an overall response rate of 40 per cent. This is slightly lower than the response rate for the 2016 survey, which was 41 per cent [6] .

This section describes the differences in response rates by a range of variables. Many of these differences were also evident in previous surveys, and were taken into account when the sample sizes were calculated – see Section 4 on Sample Design for more information about this.

Response Rates by NHS Board

Table 5: Response rate by NHS Board

NHS Board Total no. of forms sent out Number of responses Response rate Expected response rate
NHS Ayrshire & Arran 4,788 1,872 39% 39%
NHS Borders 706 322 46% 48%
NHS Dumfries & Galloway 2,753 1,185 43% 43%
NHS Fife 1,651 646 39% 37%
NHS Forth Valley 1,151 451 39% 43%
Golden Jubilee Foundation 913 644 71% 69%
NHS Grampian 5,912 2,785 47% 48%
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 16,624 5,761 35% 37%
NHS Highland 5,018 2,321 46% 47%
NHS Lanarkshire 2,922 1,013 35% 37%
NHS Lothian 5,615 2,298 41% 45%
NHS Orkney 237 122 51% 56%
NHS Shetland 326 151 46% 42%
NHS Tayside 2,369 1,030 43% 47%
NHS Western Isles 455 208 46% 50%
Scotland 51,440 20,809 40% 42%

The highest response rate for an NHS Board was the Golden Jubilee Foundation (71 per cent) and the lowest response rates were for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde and NHS Lanarkshire ( Table 5).

Response Rate by Deprivation

Respondents were assigned to a deprivation quintile based on their postcode using the 2016 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ( SIMD) [7] . As seen in previous surveys, the response rate was lower for people living in more deprived areas. The response rate ranged from 29 per cent for people living in the most deprived areas to 50 per cent for people living in the least deprived areas (Table 6).

Table 6: Response rate by deprivation quintile

SIMD Quintile Total number of forms sent out Number of Responses Response rate
1 (Most deprived) 12,511 3,651 29%
2 11,199 4,307 38%
3 11,023 4,754 43%
4 9,278 4,371 47%
5 (Least deprived) 7,429 3,726 50%
Scotland 51,440 20,809 40%

Response Rate by Urban / Rural Location

Respondents were assigned to an Urban / Rural category based on their postcode using the Scottish Government's 2016 six-fold Urban / Rural classification [8] . The response rate ranged from 35 per cent of people living in large urban areas to 50 per cent of people living in remote rural areas (Table 7).

Table 7: Response rate by urban / rural location

Urban / Rural Category Total number of forms sent out Number of Responses Response rate
Large urban areas 16,145 5,661 35%
Other urban areas 17,813 7,010 39%
Accessible small towns 4,225 1,830 43%
Remote small towns 3,169 1,370 43%
Accessible rural 5,007 2,389 48%
Remote rural 5,081 2,549 50%
Scotland 51,440 20,809 40%

Response Rate by Age Group

The response rate increased with age up to 75+ and was highest in the 65 to 74 age group (57 per cent). This compared to a response rate of 15 per cent for those aged 25-34 (Table 8).

Table 8: Response rate by age group (derived from CHI number on SMR01)

Age Group Total number of forms sent out Number of Responses Response rate
17 to 24 2,765 445 16%
25 to 34 3,559 531 15%
35 to 44 4,321 1,002 23%
45 to 54 6,488 2,173 33%
55 to 64 8,021 3,826 48%
65 to 74 9,950 5,652 57%
75 + 16,336 7,180 44%
Scotland 51,440 20,809 40%

Response Rate by Gender

The response rate was 40 per cent for males and 41 per cent for females (Table 9).

Table 9: Response rate by gender (derived from CHI number on SMR01)

Gender Total number of forms sent out Number of Responses Response rate (%)
Male 22,751 9,178 40%
Female 28,689 11,631 41%
Scotland 51,440 20,809 40%

Method of Response

Of the 20,809 respondents, 88 per cent sent their surveys back by post with almost all of the rest completing the survey online. Eighty-six people completed their survey via the telephone (Table 10).

Table 10: Response by method

Method No. of questionnaires completed % of questionnaires completed
Online 2,412 12%
Post 18,311 88%
Telephone helpline 86 0%
Language line 0 0%
Scotland 20,809 100%

Contact

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