PATIENTS at Worcestershire’s three major hospitals are generally satisfied with their care but would like more say in their treatment, an independent study has found.

The results of a national survey into every NHS hospital in the country commissioned by the Care Quality Commission and carried out between September 2014 and January this year were published earlier this month. The survey showed Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the county's three major hospitals, ranks about on par with the majority of other trusts across the country for patient satisfaction, with the majority ranking their overall experience as seven out of ten.

But, although 80 per cent said they always had confidence in doctors and 78 per cent in the case of nurses, speaking at a meeting of the trust's board on Wednesday, June 24, interim chief medical officer Andy Phillips said he was “disappointed” this was not higher.

“As a health professional I do find that disturbing,” he said.

“I think movement could be made on this without great advancements in medical science.”

Other issues raised in the study, which was sent to 850 patients, 403 of whom responded, were that 10 per cent of A&E patients said they were not given any information about their condition or treatment, and a further 16 per cent said they were not given enough.

One in 10 respondents also said they were not as involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment while 14 per cent were not told what to expect from an operation.

Meanwhile 24 per cent said they were not able to find a member of staff to talk to about their worries and 13 per cent said they were not given enough emotional support.

But 81 per cent said they were always treated with dignity and respect and 97 per cent said their room or ward was ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ clean.

In a report presented to the trust’s board chief nursing officer Lindsey Webb said there were clearly some areas in which the organisation needed to improve and work was being done to address these as quickly as possible.

“The first imperative is to ensure all areas of the trust are aware of these results and to work with them to ensure improvements where necessary and to look at what we can learn from areas that are doing better,” she said.

The detailed report is available at www.worcsacute.nhs.uk.