First Ever National Survey of Patient Experience is Live in Tallaght Hospital

Tallaght Hospital is one of 40 hospitals participating in the National Patient Experience Survey, a new nationwide survey asking patients for their views on hospital care.

National Patient Experience LogoWith an estimated 27,000 patients eligible to participate, this will be the largest single survey of the healthcare system to be conducted in Ireland. All adult patients who spend at least 24 hours in a public hospital and who are discharged during the month of May will be asked to complete the survey.

The National Patient Experience Survey covers all aspects of a patients’ stay in hospital, including admission and discharge, the ward environment, interaction with staff, and care and treatment. The survey contains 58 tick-box questions and three open-ended questions, where participants have the opportunity to comment on what they found good about the care they received in hospital, and also provide suggestions for improvement.

Áine Lynch, Director Of Nursing and executive lead on the organisation’s Patient Advocacy service, is working closing with colleagues to encourage eligible patients to participate in the survey. ‘We are looking forward to the opportunity for our patients to contribute to this national survey. We value every opportunity to listen and improve our service’

Dr. Daragh Fahey, Director of Quality Risk & Safety Management at Tallaght Hospital is encouraging all eligible patients who attended the Hospital to participate in the survey: “This is a great opportunity for patients to tell us about their hospital experience. By taking part in the National Patient Experience Survey patients can help us to identify areas for improvement, as well as provide positive feedback to staff who are working hard to provide high quality care to every patient every day in Tallaght Hospital. This initiative builds on our comprehensive pre-existing volunteer-led programme of local patient surveys”.

Welcoming the launch of the survey, David Slevin, CEO Tallaght Hospital, says: “We are very happy to be part of this important programme. The experience of patients in our hospitals is vital to improving our health service. By listening to the feedback and experiences of patients we can enhance the quality and care we provide to our patients.”

It is accepted internationally that the key to creating a better healthcare service is to focus on the patient and to learn from their experiences. With this in mind, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has joined forces with the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health for the first time to carry out the National Patient Experience Survey.

The results of the survey will be used to improve the standard of hospital care for all patients, not just in Tallaght Hospital, but across the country. The responses will help to set priorities for the delivery of better patient-centred care in all Irish hospitals, with the aim of creating more effective and efficient healthcare organisations, both nationally, and in Tallaght.

The National Patient Experience Survey will allow for comparisons of patient experiences at a hospital-group and national level, but also, for the first time in Ireland, facilitate a comparison with international best practice. Patient experience surveys are regularly conducted in other countries, including Scotland, England, Denmark and New Zealand.

Patients eligible to participate in the National Patient Experience Survey will receive a survey pack in the post approximately two weeks after their discharge from Tallaght Hospital. This pack contains the survey, an information leaflet and a Freepost envelope in which to return the completed survey. The survey can also be completed online up until 26 July 2017.

Find out more about the National Patient Experience Survey at www.patientexperience.ie, on Twitter @NPESurvey or on Facebook /NPESurvey.

About Tallaght Hospital

Tallaght Hospital is one of Ireland’s largest acute teaching hospitals, providing child-health, adult, psychiatric and age-related healthcare on one site. The hospital has 495 adult beds and 67 paediatric bed with 2,600 people on staff. The Hospital is a provider of local, regional and national specialities. It is also a national urology centre, the second largest provider of dialysis services in the country and a regional orthopaedic trauma centre.

Tallaght Hospital is one of the two main teaching hospitals of Trinity College Dublin - specialising in the training and professional development of staff in areas such as nursing, health and social care professionals, emergency medicine and surgery, amongst many others. Tallaght Hospital is part of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group which serves a population of over 1.2 million across seven counties.

A new satellite centre is to be built at Tallaght Hospital as part of the National Children’s Hospital project as a key element of an integrated clinical network for paediatric services nationally.

The Hospital’s Emergency Departments catered for 49,512 Adult Attendances and 33,717 Paediatric Attendances in 2016. A further 252,418 patients were treated through the Hospital’s adult and paediatric outpatient clinics in 2016. The Hospital’s operations are supported by 200 general practitioners in surrounding communities.