Patient feedback to help improve emergency departments
This week another piece of the picture is added to public health reporting in NSW, with thousands of people being asked about their experience in emergency departments.
This is the latest patient group to be surveyed by the independent Bureau of Health Information, as part of the NSW Patient Survey Program.
Bureau Chief Executive, Dr Jean-Frederic Levesque says “We’re hoping that people contacted will complete the survey. Only patients can tell us the kind of information we don’t see in hospital records. With the survey responses, we can identify areas where hospital emergency departments are performing well and where improvements can be made."
The Bureau will use information collected in the surveys to report on how people rate the care they received, and compare the performance of hospital emergency departments across NSW.
The emergency department survey covers 'aspects of care', including communication, respect and provision of information.
The Emergency Department Patient Survey will be mailed to 80,000 people over the next year. Letters are currently being sent to a random selection of people who have visited an emergencydepartment between April and June 2013. All responses are confidential.
This survey complements the Adult Admitted Patient Survey, which has been underway since June2013.
For accurate data, only the contacted sample of patients can participate in the survey. Other people wishing to provide feedback about their experience should contact their hospital.
The results will be available from www.bhi.nsw.gov.au in 2014.