Scottish Inpatient Patient Experience Survey 2012 Volume 1: National results

10 COMPARISONS WITH ENGLISH INPATIENT SURVEY

Comparisons with English Inpatient Survey 2011

10.1 A number of the questions in the 2012 Scottish inpatient survey are broadly comparable to those in the 2011 English inpatient survey¹¹, a survey of inpatients in NHS hospitals in England. This section of the report compares the findings from both surveys where relevant. The wording of questions and response options are different and this has been discussed when comparing results.

10.2 It is important to note that there are differences in the way that the English and Scottish results have been calculated. The English results are the unweighted mean result of all NHS Trusts. However the Scottish results have been calculated by weighting the results by the total number of eligible inpatients attending a particular hospital over the year to provide results more representative of the population. Giving NHS Boards equal weighting as was done for NHS Trusts in England would provide misleading results because it would give Greater Glasgow and Clyde's results (where there are over 80,000 inpatients annually) the same contribution to the national results as NHS Orkney's results (where there are fewer than 1,000 inpatients annually). The effect of this type of weighting for the Scottish results would be to inflate the national results because the smaller boards generally achieve higher positive scores. It is not clear what effect this weighting methodology has on the English results.

10.3 Looking at comparisons between Scotland and England some questions have been compared in terms of the percentage of patients answering negatively. This has been done where the negative responses for the two surveys are more comparable than the positive responses.

Admission to hospital

10.4 Table 9 shows results from the English and Scottish inpatient surveys about patients' experience of admission to hospital.

Table 9 Comparative results for admission to hospital

English 2011 Inpatient Survey question	English 2011 Inpatient Survey results		Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey question	Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey results
Was your most recent hospital stay planned in advance or an emergency?	Waiting list or planned in advance	39%	Was your most recent hospital stay planned in advance or an emergency?	Waiting list or planned in advance	39%
	Emergency or urgent	58%
	Something else	3%		Emergency or urgent	61%
When you arrived at the hospital, did you go to the A&E Department?	Yes	87%	When you arrived at the hospital, did you go to the A&E Department?	Yes	72%
From the time you arrived at the hospital, did you feel that you had to wait a long time to get to a bed on a ward?	Yes, definitely	12%	From the time you arrived at the hospital, how did you feel about the time you had to wait to get to a bed on theward?	It was too long	13%

The hospital and ward

10.5 Table 10 shows results from the two surveys about patients' views and experiences of the hospital and ward.

10.6 Views on the cleanliness of hospital room or ward were similar in both surveys as was the views on the cleanliness of the toilets and bathrooms.

10.7 Similarly the same percentage of Scottish and English patients were likely to share a room or a bay with members of the opposite sex. The results are not directly comparable because the English survey only asked about when patients were first admitted.

Table 10 Comparative results for the hospital and ward

English 2011 Inpatient Survey question	English 2011 Inpatient Survey results		Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey question	Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey results
In your opinion, how clean was the hospital room or ward that you were in?	Not very clean / Not at all clean	3%	The main ward or room I stayed in was clean	Strongly disagree / disagree	3%
How clean were the toilets and bathrooms that you used in hospital?	Not very clean / Not at all clean	6%	The bathrooms and toilets were clean.	Strongly disagree / disagree	6%
When you were first admitted to a bed on a ward, did you share a sleeping area, for example a room or bay, with patients of the opposite sex?	Yes	10%	During your most recent stay in hospital did you share a room or bay with members of the opposite sex?	Yes	10%

Care and treatment

10.8 Table 11 shows results from the two surveys about patients' views and experiences of care and treatment they received as an inpatient and shows very similar results.

Table 11 Comparative results for care and treatment

English 2011 Inpatient Survey question	English 2011 Inpatient Survey question results		Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey question	Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey question results
Do you think the hospital staff did everything they could to help control your pain?	No	6%	I was able to get adequate pain relief when I needed it.	Strongly disagree / disagree	5%
Were you given enough privacy when being examined or treated?	No	2%	I had privacy when being examined and treated.	Strongly disagree / disagree	2%
Were you given enough privacy when discussing your condition or treatment?	No	8%	I had privacy when my condition and treatment was discussed.	Strongly disagree / disagree	8%
Were you involved as much as you wanted to be in decisions about your care and treatment?	No	11%	How did you feel about being involved in decisions about your care and treatment?	I was not involved enough.	12%

Staff

10.9 Table 12 shows results from the two surveys about patients' views of the staff they encountered during their most recent hospital stay.

10.10 Slightly more patients in England (7%) disagreed that doctors washed their hands than in Scotland (3%). Also slightly less patients in England (73%) disagreed that doctors talk in front of them as if they were not there than in Scotland (80%).

Table 12 Comparative results for staff

English 2011 Inpatient Survey question	English 2011 Inpatient Survey results		Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey question	Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey results
Did doctors talk in front of you as if you weren't there?	No	73%	Doctors talked in front of me as if I wasn't there.	Strongly disagree / disagree	80%
Did nurses talk in front of you as if you weren't there?	No	78%	Nurses talked in front of me as if I wasn't there.	Strongly disagree / disagree	81%
As far as you know, did doctors wash or clean their hands between touching patients?	No	7%	As far as I was aware doctors washed/cleaned their hands at appropriate times.	Strongly disagree / disagree	3%
As far as you know, did nurses wash or clean their hands between touching patients?	No	4%	As far as I was aware nurses washed/cleaned their hands at appropriate times.	Strongly disagree / disagree	3%

Leaving hospital

10.11 Table 13 shows results from the two surveys about patients' views and experiences of leaving hospital.

10.12 There was a large difference in the percentage of patients that were not told of danger signals to watch for when they left hospital between Scotland (19%) and England (38%). Some of this difference is probably caused by Scottish patients not feeling that they required to be told about danger signals and answering "neither agree nor disagree". However only 10 per cent of patients in Scotland answered "neither agree nor disagree" so there still appears to be a large difference.

Table 13 Comparative results for leaving hospital

English 2011 Inpatient Survey question	English 2011 Inpatient Survey results		Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey question	Scottish 2012 Inpatient Survey results
Did a member of staff tell you about any danger signals you should watch for after you went home?	No	38%	I was told about any danger signals to watch for when I got home.	Strongly disagree / disagree	19%

Summary

10.13 Overall, the experiences of inpatients in Scotland and England appear to be very similar.