Mudgee District Hospital has earned top marks from patients with more than 90 per cent rating the care they received as ‘good’ to ‘very good’ in a recent survey.
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The Bureau of Health Information (BHI) surveyed 35,000 patients on their experience of care in the state’s public hospitals during 2013.
Of 161 Mudgee District Hospital patients surveyed, 86 per cent said they would speak highly of their experience to family and friends compared to 78 per cent of Western NSW Local Health District patients.
Seventy-four per cent of patients said the care they received was ‘very good’, 22 per cent said ‘good’ and just three per cent said ‘adequate’.
Health Service manager for Mudgee and Gulgong, Judith Ford said the survey showed some “really good results”.
“We’re working hard to further improve the services we provide here at Mudgee Health Service which includes the hospital, community health, mental health and services we work closely with in the community including ambulance, police and local aged care facilities,” Ms Ford said.
She said access to services and education about services available to the community have been targeted for further improvement.
BHI Chief Executive, Dr Jean-Frederic Levesque, said the survey gathered information about patients’ experience of care at 80 NSW public hospitals.
“BHI’s Snapshot Report shows that most patients were positive about their overall experience of care with 64 per cent of patients rating it as ‘very good’ and 27 per cent as ‘good’,” Dr Levesque said.
“Patients tended to rate well their interactions with hospital staff, including being treated with kindness and respect, and the information they were given about their treatment.”
In Mudgee the treatment from nurses was ‘very good’ according to 82 per cent of those surveyed with 13 per cent ranking it as ‘good’ while the hospital’s doctors ranked ‘very good’ with 79 per cent of patients and ‘good’ with another 18 per cent.
The cleanliness of wards and rooms was 80 per cent ‘very clean’ compared to the state-wide response of 63 per cent. The hospital’s food was ‘very good’ according to 29 per cent of patients with 53 per cent marking it as ‘good’.
The results will help NSW hospitals identify areas where patients feel they are performing well and where improvements to patient experience could be made.
“Feedback from community members directly to the Mudgee Health Service or via the Mudgee Health Council is always welcomed to enable improvements to be made where gaps in service delivery are identified,” Ms Ford said.
