Yeovil District Hospital is Best in the South West for Cleanliness
In the biggest survey of patients staying overnight in English NHS hospitals patients have revealed that, in their opinion, Yeovil District Hospital is the best in the south west in a number of areas including cleanliness, supporting patients with their eating and privacy.
The results, published by the Healthcare Commission on Wednesday, reveal that 97% of Yeovil’s patients are happy with the cleanliness of the ward compared to a national average of 93% and 75% of patients, who needed it, were given support with their eating compared to a national average of 60%.
GPs in the Yeovil area are also the best in the west for offering patients the choice of hospital for their first hospital appointment. 41% of patients were given the choice compared to a national average of 28%.
Yeovil is also the top performing hospital in the south west for ensuring patients are offered privacy when discussing their condition. In some areas Yeovil District Hospital is joint leader in the south west. These were: treating patients with dignity and respect; ensuring patients have privacy when they are examined; pre-operation advice given on pain control and advice given on medicines which are taken home.
Nationally Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is in the top 20% performing Trusts for 30 questions – 20 more than last year with the Trust improving over the previous survey on 37 of the questions. However there were a few areas which some patients felt could be improved. These included the length of time it takes for a patient to be admitted to a bed once they arrive at the hospital and changes to admission dates.
Chief Executive, Gavin Boyle said: “We are absolutely delighted that, in general, our patients are happy with the services we provide. However we have noted the areas where we did not score too well and are taking action to address these. We work hard to be a constantly improving organisation which, not only offers a high standard of healthcare, but an approach which makes everyone who uses the Trust feel respected, valued and listened to. Since the survey was done the hospital has launched iCARE an initiative which helps focus all our staff on key elements of patient care which our patients and staff have told us to improve.”
Director of Nursing, Alison Moon said: “I do have concerns about the length of time it takes to get feedback from national surveys - this one was nine months. We need to get real feedback from patients quickly so have recently introduced patient exit surveys on our Charlton and Misterton Wards and these have been really successful. We plan to extend this to other wards to capture patient feedback in real time to enable us to pick up on any areas of concern quickly and, at the same time, give our staff feedback for the excellent work they are doing on a daily basis.”
Hospital Clinicians Granted Honorary Status from Top University
The University of Bristol has awarded Honorary Academic status to 31 doctors and nurses at Yeovil District Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in recognition of their contribution to undergraduate medical education.
Receiving honorary senior clinical lecturer status are Mr Leke Osoba; Dr Megan Eaton; Mr Nader Francis; Mr Chris Parker and Dr Rajendha Sinha.
Having honorary clinical lecturer status are: Dr Paul Heaton, Dr Meridith Kane, Dr Tamsyn Nicole, Dr Jim Gotto, Mr Haroun Gajraj, Dr Sally Knights, Dr John Dearlove, Dr Tom Palferman, Dr Tahir Farooq, Dr Clive Royle, Dr Seshadrinathan Pramodh, Dr Thikra Al-wattar, Dr Mohammed Niayesh, Dr Nadia Soliman, Dr Zubair Khan and Dr Mohammed Qadiri.
Honorary clinical teacher status has been given to: Dr Malcolm Hay, Dr Richard Clarkson, Kate Brookman, Barbara Williams-Yesson, Dr Mangampalli Premkumar, Ed Moore, Dr Jeremy Hacking, Dr William Saywell, Dr Charles Hopkins and Dr Paul Foster.
Medical Director of Yeovil District Hospital, Dr Steve Gore said: "Yeovil District Hospital has a first class Academy which does a wide range of training for all our staff including student doctors and nurses. I am delighted that the hard work that is put in to train young doctors by many of our clinicians, who already have demanding jobs caring for patients, has been recognised."