The findings of the National Patient Experience Survey, launched on Monday last, highlight positive patient experiences at Mayo University Hospital, showing above average positive findings for the Castlebar based campus.
Key findings overall for Mayo University Hospital were patients’ ratings of their experiences at MUH were slightly above the national average; 85 per cent of patients at MUH said they had a ‘very good’ or ‘good’ experience, compared with 84 per cent nationally.
The key positive findings included many patients reporting a very positive experience of care in the ward, patients were very positive about the support they received from staff, and patients also reported positive experiences of emotional support.
Some areas for improvement which were highlighted at the Castlebar based hospital included waiting times in the emergency department, communications around diagnosis and test results, and also the discharge and transfer process.
It is hoped that these findings will serve to inform quality improvement initiatives in MUH.
Catherine Donohoe, general manager at Mayo University Hospital, said: “We are very happy with the overall results of the National Patient Experience Survey at Mayo University Hospital. We are particularly encouraged to note that people were very positive about the support they received from staff, with many patients reporting positive experiences of emotional support if they ever needed to talk to a member of staff about their worries and fears. Patients also rated the food on the ward as either very good or good.”
“We have already put improvement plans in place in MUH to address areas for improvement based on the results of the survey, and will focus in particular on those issues relating to communications incorporating diagnosis, feeding back on test results and helping prepare patients for their discharge.”
“We will continue to focus on the emergency department wait times and out-patients’ experience of their overall care there. We would like to thank all the patients who took part in the survey and the staff who encouraged and facilitated it.”
Maurice Power, group CEO of the Saolta University Health Care Group, said: “This survey has been a very positive experience for the Saolta Group. It has focused our attention even more on what is important. The patient must be put at the centre of all we do and we look forward as a group to the implementation of improvements in patient experience over the coming year.
“These results have given a clear insight into the patients' experiences in our seven hospitals and assists us in understanding what matters to patients. It confirms for us the importance of working in partnership with our patients, their carers, our staff, and communities. We are committed to responding to and implementing the findings.”
