Patients give Bay of Plenty hospitals high marks

Nationally, the survey found the more than 6000 respondents were generally satisfied with their experiences. Photo / File

Rotorua and Taupo hospitals have again ranked highly in a national survey of patients' experiences.

The Health Quality & Safety Commission asked inpatients between November 3 and 16 last year to rate the communication, partnership and co-ordination of their care out of 10.

The hospitals were rated between 8.8 and 9.1 in each of the areas. Nationally, the average rating was 8 or higher.

Patients were also asked 20 detailed questions with the possible answers: "Yes, definitely," "yes, to some extent" or "no".

Rotorua and Taupo had particularly high responses of "yes, definitely" to questions about whether the respondents felt staff had done everything to help control their pain and whether they felt staff had treated them with dignity and respect.

The hospitals' lowest "yes, definitely" answers were to the questions: "Did a member of staff tell you about medication side effects to watch for when you went home?" (46 per cent) and "Do you feel you received enough information from the hospital on how to manage your condition after your discharge?" (63 per cent).

Lakes DHB quality and risk manager Lesley Yule said the DHB was "quietly pleased" with the survey results.

"Overall, the DHB rated well over the four areas asked about in the survey: communication, partnership, co-ordination and physical and emotional needs being met," she said.

"Across all of these areas Lakes DHB also showed improvement from the survey in the last quarter.

"Two areas which need more work are advice about medication and its side effects and including family or whanau in discussions about a patient's care," she said.

The DHB was working on these areas with initiatives such as a patient-centred care programme at Rotorua Hospital's Intensive Care Unit which had resulted in patients and whanau having the ability to have input into their daily care plan.

Nationally, the survey found the more than 6000 respondents were generally satisfied with their experiences - but improvements could be made.

The highest portion of "yes, definitely" answers (87 per cent) nationally was in response to the question: "Overall, did you feel staff treated you with respect and dignity while you were in the hospital?"

The lowest portion of "yes, definitely" answers (47 per cent) was in response to the question: "Did a member of staff tell you about medication side effects to watch for when you went home?"

Dr John Barnard, the commission's clinical lead for medication safety, said the low score for advice about medication side effects showed there was work to be done.