HA releases findings of survey on accident and emergency service
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The Hospital Authority (HA) Board today (September 28) discussed and endorsed the Report of the 2016 Patient Experience and Satisfaction Survey on Accident and Emergency (A&E) Service. The Survey reflected high confidence among patients in A&E doctors and nurses, and patients also felt that they were respected and treated with dignity.
The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care of the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was commissioned by the HA to conduct the Survey from August to December 2016. Around 9,300 patients who had attended HA A&E Departments were selected on a random basis for phone interviews. Thirty-three per cent were of the triaged categories of Critical, Emergency and Urgent patients, while the remaining 67 per cent belonged to the Semi-urgent and Non-urgent categories.
The overall response rate was 69 per cent. The Survey indicated that the average score of the overall experience across the 17 A&E Departments was 7.7 (along a scoring scale of 0 to 10) with 83 per cent of the respondents giving a rating of 7 or above. The respondents were satisfied with the A&E environment and facilities, including cleanliness and air ventilation, and waiting time for triage assessment and tests. The respondents also expressed that healthcare staff could explain how to take medications and the effects of drugs in a way they could understand.
The Survey reflected that there were areas with relatively low scores which require improvement, such as waiting time for consultation, availability of surgical masks and hand-wash liquid, and giving information on medication side effects and danger signals to watch for. Respondents also wished to be comforted by healthcare staff if they had worry or fear.
The HA Deputising Director (Quality and Safety), Dr Simon Tang, expressed his sincere gratitude to those who had participated in the Survey. He said that the views collected from the Survey were instrumental in helping the HA to further improve A&E service quality, and the positive feedback from the respondents was no doubt a boost to the morale of A&E staff.
Dr Tang stressed that the HA will seriously follow up on the areas for improvement as revealed in the Survey, and will work closely with front-line staff to ensure continuous improvement of A&E service.
The general public are welcome to browse the full report of the survey on A&E service, which can be accessed online at www.ha.org.hk/goto/pes/en.
Ends/Thursday, September 28, 2017
Issued at HKT 18:30
Issued at HKT 18:30
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