Hospitals bottom in UK survey

7:00am Wednesday 14th May 2008

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DOCTORS and nurses at two local hospitals have been rated the least trustworthy in the country by a survey of patients.

The report, compiled by the Healthcare Commission, is based on a survey of 342 patients who used Northwick Park Hospital and Central Middlesex Hospital.

A range of services, from catering to cleanliness, came under scrutiny, with patients giving them a score between 0 and 100.

When asked if they had confidence and trust in the nurses at the hospitals, the average score was 74 per cent, the lowest of the 165 trusts surveyed.

Doctors scored higher, with 81.69 per cent, but were still the lowest scoring out of all the trusts.

Fiona Wise, chief executive of the North West London NHS Hospitals Trust, which runs the two Brent hospitals, said: "Obviously we were disappointed by some of our results and also by the low response rate from our patients, representing less than two percent of all in-patients last year.

"We take patient feedback seriously as it is a good indicator of where we need to make improvements, as well as where we are doing a good job."

She said the trust is aware of the negative points raised, through in-house comments and complaints procedures, and promised to develop an action plan to improve the situation.

The trust failed to make it into the top 20 per cent bracket for any of the questions and came under fire for not offering enough choice for patients when they are treated. Ms Wise promised patients would be offered a range of admission dates from now on.

The food service at the hospitals was also criticised.

Although the choice of food available scored 78.94 per cent, the quality of the food was only rated at 43.53 per cent, putting the trust near the bottom of the scale.

Ms Wise said: "One of our key objectives this year is about improving patients' experience of our hospitals.

"As part of this we are working hard to improve our hotel services, including patient food, cleaning and front-of-house services."

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