Mallow General Hospital recorded one of the highest patient experience scores in the 2018 National Patient Experience Survey. A total of 39 hospitals around Ireland were surveyed; Mallow scored 9.1 out of 10, behind only Ennis Hospital in Clare and the South Infirmary in Cork. North Cork Fine Gael Councillor John Paul O’Shea said the results of the survey highlight the high esteem Mallow General Hospital is held in and he commended the staff at the hospital for their pursuance of excellence.
The National Patient Experience Survey is a nationwide survey that offer patients the opportunity to describe their experiences of public acute healthcare in Ireland. The survey is a partnership between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health. The survey was conducted for the first time in 2017 and repeated in 2018.
Nationally, more than 13,404 people completed the survey. 82 patients from Mallow General Hospital took part in the survey. The aim of the survey is to find out about patients’ experiences in public acute hospitals and to use their feedback to identify areas of good experience, and areas needing improvement.
According to the survey, among the areas of good experience at Mallow General Hospital include: “Confidence and trust in hospital staff, 95% of responders said they have always had confidence and trust in the hospital staff treating them; clear explanation of the risks/benefits of treatment, 91% of responders said that the they were always or sometimes told about the risks or benefits of a treatment in a way they could understand; and information on the expected outcome of an operation or procedure, 91% of responders said that they were completely or to some extent told how they could expect to feel after an operation or procedure.
In terms of the cleanliness of the hospital room or ward they were in, responders gave a score of 10 out of 10 to Mallow General Hospital. According to one patient’s review of Mallow Hospital, “The atmosphere in the hospital was very conducive to patients returning to health. I couldn’t praise hospital and its entire staff enough.” Another responder wrote: “The attention I got from doctors and nurses was excellent; I enjoyed my staff in hospital.”
Welcoming the survey’s results, Cllr. O’Shea commented: “Mallow General Hospital consistently scored highly across the survey. There are of course areas that can be improved, but generally speaking the patients who responded to the survey indicated that there is an extremely high level of care and treatment available at the hospital and that is most encouraging, but not at all surprising, news.
“Mallow General Hospital already has a very positive reputation and this survey backs it up. My congratulations to everybody involved with the hospital,” he said. 150 people discharged from Mallow General Hospital during the month of May 2018 were invited to participate in the survey. 82 people completed the survey, achieving a response rate of 55%. 51.2% of participants were male and 48.8% were female. 66 respondents (80.5%) said that their stay in hospital was an emergency.
