Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.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 tell the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about their experiences. The CQC will use the results from the surveys in the regulation, monitoring and inspection of NHS acute trusts (or, for community mental health service user surveys, providers of mental health services) in England. Data are used in CQC Insight, an intelligence tool which identifies potential changes in quality of care and then supports deciding on the right regulatory response. Survey data will also be used to support CQC inspections. 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. History of the programme The National Patient Survey Programme began in 2002, 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 CQC was formed, which replaced the Healthcare Commission. Further information about the National Patient Survey Programme may be found on the CQC Patient Survey Programme web pages.
The Primary Care Trusts: Patient Surveys, 2003-2005 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.
Main Topics:
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.
Simple random sample
staff at each PCT identified the patients who were eligible for inclusion and drew a random sample of 850 patients, following a standard procedure set out in the survey guidance. The sampled patients were sent a questionnaire with a covering letter. Patients who did not respond were sent up to two reminders. Each PCT was responsible for ensuring that their survey was carried out following the standard sampling and survey procedures, as set out in the guidance issued to them.
Postal survey
