Primary Care Trusts: Patient Surveys, 2003-2005

<p>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</p>The National Patient Survey Programme is one of the largest patient survey programmes in the world. It provides an opportunity to monitor experiences of health and provides data to assist with registration of trusts and monitoring on-going compliance. Understanding what people think about the care and treatment they receive is crucial to improving the quality of care being delivered by healthcare organisations. One way of doing this is by asking people who have recently used the health service to provide feedback about their experiences. <br> <br> The results are primarily intended for use by NHS trusts to help them improve their performance. The results will be used by the Care Quality Commission as part of its Hospital Intelligent Monitoring. NHS England will use the results to check progress and improvement against the objectives set out in the NHS mandate, and the Department of Health will hold them to account for the outcomes they achieve. The Trust Development Authority will use the results to inform the quality and governance assessment as part of their Oversight Model for NHS Trusts.<br> <br> Each survey has a different focus. These include patients' experiences in outpatient and accident and emergency departments in Acute Trusts, and the experiences of people using mental health services in the community.<br> <br> <i>History of the programme</i><br> The National Patient Survey Programme began in 2003, and was then conducted by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), along with the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI). Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On 1 April 2009, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was formed, which replaced the Healthcare Commission.<br> <br> Further information about the National Patient Survey Programme may be found on the CQC <a href="http://www.cqc.org.uk/public/reports-surveys-and-reviews/surveys" title="Patient Survey Programme">Patient Survey Programme</a> web pages.<br> <br>The <i>Primary Care Trusts: Patient Surveys, 2003-2005</i> were designed to provide actionable feedback to each participating trust on patients' views of the care they had received in Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England, as well as providing CHI/CHAI with patient-focused indicators to feed into the 2003-2005 performance ratings for acute and specialist NHS trusts.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<br>Topics covered include: visits to local health centres/general practitioners in last 12 months; waiting time for appointments; time spent with doctor; other health professionals or pharmacists seen; referrals to hospitals or specialists; clinical tests; medical treatments and health advice received; trust in doctors; whether patient treated with respect and dignity; medications prescribed; adequacy of information received; whether interpreter required or available; whether contacted NHS Direct telephone line; dental treatment; sight and vision tests received; blood pressure checks; advice received regarding diet; exercise; smoking cessation; alcohol consumption; sexual health and contraception; whether patient suffers from debilitating condition; whether patient has children or cares for other dependants; patient's age; gender; ethnic group and educational background.