Scottish Inpatient Patient Experience Survey 2012 Volume 1: National results

6 RESULTS– STAFF

Summary

6.1 The majority of patients were positive in their overall rating of the staff that they came into contact with. There was no change from 2011 with 87 per cent rating the staff they came into contact with as either excellent or good and only 3 per cent rating them as poor or very poor (Chart 5).

6.2 Patients generally felt that staff worked well together in organising their care, with 84 per cent agreeing that they did. Of the six stages of the patient journey, patients were most positive about their experiences of the staff. More information on these results and other questions relating to the staff are outlined below.

Chart 5 Overall, how would you rate all the staff who you came into contact with?

Doctors

6.3 Patients were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with ten statements about doctors and the results are shown in Table 4. The percentage of patients answering positively ranged from 80 per cent (Doctors did not talk in front of me as if I was not there) to 96 per cent (Doctors introduced themselves to me).

6.4 Overall there was little change between the 2011 and 2012 results. The 2011 results had shown small increases for most of the questions on doctors from the 2010 survey.

• Two statements show improvements of 1 percentage point ("Doctors did not talk in front of me as if I was not there" and "As far as I was aware doctors washed/cleaned their hands at appropriate times");
• Another statement shows a decrease of 1 percentage point ("Doctors explained the risks and benefits of any treatment in a way I could understand").

Table 4 Summary of the results of questions asked about doctors encountered

Statement or question	2012				Change from 2011 In Positive %
	Total base (unweighted)	Negative %	Neither positive nor negative %	Positive %
Doctors introduced themselves to me.	27,461	2	2	96	0
There was enough time to talk to the doctors.	27,221	10	9	81	- 1
Doctors knew enough about my condition and treatment.	27,318	6	7	87	- 1
Doctors explained the risks and benefits of any treatment in a way I could understand.	25,927	6	7	87	- 1
Doctors talked in a way that helped me understand my condition and treatment.	26,872	6	7	88	0
Doctors gave me clear explanations about any operations and procedures	23,073	6	7	86	- 1
Doctors told me how my operation or procedure had gone in a way I could understand.	20,992	6	8	87	+1
Doctors did not talk in front of me as if I was not there.	25,112	11	9	80	+1
Doctors listened to me if I had any questions or concerns.	26,449	5	7	88	0
As far as I was aware doctors washed/cleaned their hands at appropriate times.	24,613	3	9	88	+1

Note: Not all rows add to 100% due to rounding.

Nurses

6.5 Patients were asked about how much they agreed or disagreed with eight statements about nurses and the results are shown in below in Table 5. The percentage of patients answering positively ranged from 76 per cent (There was enough time to talk to the nurses) to 90 per cent (As far as I was aware nurses washed/cleaned their hands at appropriate times).

6.6 There was little change in the results for nurses from 2011. The 2012 results show increases in the percentage of patients who agreed that nurses had introduced themselves to them (+1 percentage point) and nurses had given them clear explanations about any operations or procedures (+1 percentage point).

Table 5 Summary of the results of questions asked about nurses encountered

Statement or question	2012				Change from 2011 In Positive %
	Total base (unweighted)	Negative %	Neither positive nor negative %	Positive %
Nurses introduced themselves to me.	27,790	8	7	85	+1
There was enough time to talk to the nurses.	27,587	13	11	76	0
Nurses knew enough about my condition and treatment.	27,253	8	11	81	0
Nurses talked in a way that helped me understand my condition and treatment.	26,706	8	12	80	0
Nurses gave me clear explanations about any operations and procedures	22,319	10	13	77	+1
Nurses did not talk in front of me as if I was not there.	25,585	9	10	81	0
Nurses listened to me if I had any questions or concerns.	27,044	5	8	87	0
As far as I was aware nurses washed/cleaned their hands at appropriate times.	25,748	3	7	90	0

Releasing time to care⁷

6.7 The Releasing Time to Care (RTC) Programme was offered to all NHS Boards in April 2009 and now all fifteen boards are involved in RTC activity. One of the aims of the programme is to increase the proportion of time nursing staff spend on direct patient care. The percentage of patients who agreed that they had enough time to talk to the nurses remained the same as last year (76 per cent), after decreasing by three percentage points between 2010 and 2011. There may be differences in patients' expectations of the amount of time they can expect to have to talk to doctors and nurses.

6.8 Patients were nonetheless fairly positive (87 per cent) about nurses listening to them if they had any concerns or questions. This percentage has remained the same as last year.

Hand washing

6.9 The practice of staff routinely washing and cleaning hands after contact with patients is essential to control the spread of infection within hospitals. It is something that patients feel is very important⁸. The results show that patients think that nurses and doctors are doing this; only three per cent of patients disagreed that doctors and nurses washed their hands at appropriate times.

6.10 The percentage of patients agreeing that doctors washed their hands at appropriate times has increased slightly from last year (Table 4).