Patient experience at Russells Hall Hospital's A&E improves despite pandemic

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine praised emergency departments across England for their work, as patient satisfaction rose nationally amid the pressures and challenges of Covid-19.

The 2020 urgent and emergency care survey received feedback from 41,000 patients across England who attended a type one service – A&E departments, sometimes referred to as casualty or emergency departments – in September last year.

The 341 patients surveyed at The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust gave it an average overall experience score of 8.2 out of 10.

This was an improvement on the grade of 7.7 it received when the survey was last conducted in 2018.

A third of patients nationally gave their overall experience a perfect score – up from 27% in 2016 and 29% in 2018.

Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust runs Russells Hall Hospital and Guest Hospital in Dudley and Corbett Hospital Outpatient Centre, in Stourbridge

NHS Providers said the survey highlighted patients' concerns about pain management, emotional support and staff availability.

But given the "extreme and unprecedented pressures" they faced, the membership organisation for trusts in England said the survey results are positive.

Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive of NHS Providers, added: "This is testament to the dedication and professionalism of frontline staff who strive to deliver care in the most challenging of circumstances.

"We are also pleased to hear that the biggest positive change in this year's survey findings was in people's perceptions of cleanliness within A&E departments."

Across England, 81% of respondents said they were treated with respect and dignity in A&E all of the time – up from 79% in 2018.

The Dudley Group Trust received an average score of 8.9 out of 10 on this matter– up from 8.6 two years previously.

And patients gave it a mark of 9.1 for its cleanliness, which was above the national average of 9.