Lowest satisfaction ratings for A&E department since 2008
A new survey from think tank The King’s Fund has revealed that nearly half of the participants in England were dissatisfied with their A&E units’ performance, due to increased waiting times.
Only 53% of patients were pleased with the service from their A&E department, meaning that satisfaction levels are currently at their lowest. 38% of hospital trusts are breaching the target that 95% of patients in A&E are seen within four hours, which is a huge incline on the 17% not hitting this target last year.
Social care also scored lowly, with only 29% of people happy with this service.
NHS results
On the whole however, general satisfaction with the NHS is high according to the research, conducted by NatCen Social Research. 74% of patients were pleased with their GP services, while satisfaction with dentists hit 57%. Hospital outpatient services saw a record high of 67%, while inpatient service satisfaction also rose to 58%.
John Appleby, Chief Economist at The King’s Fund told The Telegraph “Public satisfaction in the NHS remains high, although satisfaction with A&E has dropped. This may be due to concerns about waiting times in 2013.”
