Patients express high confidence in Accident and Emergency service

Patients express trust and high confidence in Hospital Authority’s Accident and Emergency (A&E) service, according to the results of the Patient Experience and Satisfaction Survey on A&E Service 2016 recently released by HA.

The survey was conducted through telephone interviews between 17 August and 7 December 2016. Around 9,300 patients who had attended one of the 17 selected A&E Departments participated in the survey. The aim is to gather information on patients’ experience during their hospital journey at A&E Departments.

Findings indicate that patients have good experience on A&E service. Along a scale of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest), the mean score of overall experience was 7.7. Majority of respondents gave positive ratings towards ‘waiting time for triage’, ‘confidence and trust in healthcare professionals’, ‘respect and dignity to patients’ and ‘provision of clear and understandable explanation on how to take medication’. However, there is room for improvement in several areas including ‘communication issues’ and ‘provision of information upon discharge’, such as information on ‘medication side effects’ and ‘patient care and recovery’. The Report is available on HA website (www.ha.org.hk/goto/pes/en/).

Meanwhile, Patient Experience Survey on 26 public hospitals was launched on 7 August 2017, to gauge patients’ experience and feedback regarding inpatient service. The survey is expected to be completed by December this year.