Patients praise Wairarapa Hospital

More than 60 patients gave Wairarapa Hospital 8.5 out of 10, a similar score to most other hospitals in the country.

A new survey asking hospital patients to rate their experience has seen a good result for Wairarapa Hospital.

More than 60 Wairarapa patients gave the hospital 8.5 out of 10, a similar score to most other hospitals in the country.

The Health Quality and Safety Commission is running the survey on a quarterly basis and carried out the first one from August to September this year.

Commission director Richard Hamblin said ranking the hospitals would be misleading as it was the first time for the survey and because the response rates varied among the hospitals.

"In some cases, responses are too low to make valid comparisons between district health boards."

Four out of every 10 Wairarapa patients were keen to answer the survey, the second highest rate in the country.

Hospital manager Steve Crew said overall they were pleased.

"By the by we are doing well, but we are not going to rest on our laurels, the public can rest assured."

He said some of the responses highlighted there were things the hospital needed to work on.

Asked "Was your condition explained to you in a way that you could understand?", 62 per cent said yes and for the question 'Did a member of staff tell you about medication side effects to watch for when you went home?', 53 per cent said yes.

Mr Crew said they would like to see those results score higher.

"Obviously there's room to improve and we'll get to see that over the next few months, that will be the real test."

Mr Crew said the results will be sent to each team and they would try to improve the ratings for the next survey, scheduled to take place on November 24.