Improving Patient Satisfaction and Perceived Quality of Care for Acute Surgical Patients at a Large District General Hospital

Aims: As the patient is the ultimate judge of the care we provide, surveying the opinions of acute surgical patients will aid better understanding of patients’ perceptions of general surgical care, and will subsequently help improve the quality of emergency surgical care based on patient expectations. Methods: 100 anonymous feedback questionnaires were given to the surgical inpatients at Queens Hospital who were originally admitted through A&E with an acute surgical problem. Results: 39.7% of patients felt their admitting surgical doctor in A&E was excellent, though 23.6% didn’t remember seeing a surgical consultant upon admission. Surgical-ward nurses were better perceived than A&E nurses, yet 17.6% of patients still considered ward nursing to be inadequate. Although 98.3% of inpatients felt the overall surgical care was above average, 1 in 5 patients felt improvements could still be made. Conclusions: Based on the feedback, small changes such as decreasing investigatory delays, adequate analgesia, patient privacy, and better communication between surgeons and patients can enhance the perceived quality of surgical care. To assess improvement, patient satisfaction was re-audited 6 months later, during which time a “Surgical Assessment Unit” that incorporates our audit recommendations was introduced. This provides a direct pathway for acute surgical patients to receive early specialist care without delay. Consequently, re-audit demonstrates dramatic improvement, with a 15% rise in patients who felt their care was excellent.