Patient survey shows 80 per cent positive response rate on inpatient service under epidemic
The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Hospital Authority (HA) Administrative and Operational Meeting today (December 17) discussed and endorsed the Report of “Patient Experience Survey on Inpatient Service 2019” (The Survey). The Survey was conducted during the COVID-19 epidemic which posed unprecedented challenges to public healthcare services. Yet the Survey findings still reflected that the patients appreciated and showed high gratitude towards the HA’s efforts on inpatient service with around 80 percent of respondents expressing a positive response.
The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care (JCSPHPC), the Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Medicine was commissioned by the HA to conduct the Survey from October 2019 to April 2020. Around 10,000 randomly selected patients discharged from 27 public hospitals were interviewed by phone.
Professor Eliza Wong of JCSPHPC said that the findings revealed that more than 90 per cent of the respondents had an overall experience response rating of seven or above (along a scoring scale of 0 to 10) for inpatient service of public hospitals, which is better than that of a similar survey in 2017.
In the Survey, the areas of positive evaluation given by the interviewed patients include “confidence in healthcare staff”, “being treated with respect”, “sufficient privacy given”, “provision of sufficient discharge support and information about medication taking”, and “smooth overall discharge procedure”.
“However, there was room for further improvement in some areas including ‘patients’ participation in decision making of treatment plans’, ‘nursing or discharge arrangements’, ‘self-introduction of healthcare staff’, and ‘information on the channel to express opinion’. Some areas were also noted to have relatively large variations in scores among hospitals, for example, ‘provision of information on medication side effects and danger signals to watch for after discharge’, ‘waiting time to get to wards’ and ‘response time after the call button was pressed’,” Professor Wong added.
In response to the Survey, the HA Director (Quality and Safety), Dr Chung Kin-lai, said that some items related to healthcare workers, and infection control received high scores, reflecting patients’ confidence in HA staff and their positive experience on inpatient service despite the stringent challenges faced. Dr Chung also expressed his appreciation to frontline healthcare staff for their efforts and contributions.
“From the Survey, it is found that provision of discharge information is important. The HA is piloting the ‘Patient Discharge Information Summary Pilot Project’ and has launched the mobile application ‘HA Go’ to make use of technology to improve patients’ engagement and experience in self-care management and feedback collection,” Dr Chung added.
The HA is very grateful to patients in supporting the Survey and giving positive feedback on inpatient service. The HA will continue to conduct surveys regularly for direction of service planning and development as well as formulation of improvement measures to meet the expectations of the public.
Members of the public are welcome to browse the full Report of the Survey, which can be accessed online under “Special Reports” in the “Corporate News” section of the HA website www.ha.org.hk.
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