Community NHS Services Rated Highly by Patients

An independent survey has asked more than 1,000 patients for their feedback on NHS community services in Lincolnshire.

The survey, commissioned by Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust (LCHS), found more than 90 per cent of these patients rated the services providing their care as excellent or good.

The patients surveyed had all used either community nursing, physiotherapy or podiatry services across the county.

They were asked whether they would recommend service to family and friends, how their health professional treated them, how helpful the information they received was, appointments and overall care.

The survey found:

• 91 per cent rated their overall experience as excellent or good;
• 88 per cent were extremely likely or likely to recommend services to family and friends if they needed more treatment;
• 97 per cent felt they were treated with dignity and respect;
• 85 per cent said they were involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment;
• 89 per cent were happy with the frequency of appointments/visits.

Comments from patients included:

• they treated me with the utmost respect and did the most brilliant job;
• the district nurses were absolutely brilliant;
• they were thoroughly professional and always on time, they had time for questions.

Lisa Green, Deputy Chief Nurse at LCHS, said: "This is the largest survey the trust has ever commissioned to look at what patients think of services and how they would like to see them improved. We were delighted with the responses, particularly for community nursing where 97 per cent of patients rated the services as either excellent or good.

"This survey is one of a number of ways we are gathering patient feedback to ensure we are offering the best possible services. As a result we will now be focussing on a number of areas, including helping patients to access services at short notice and working with clinical staff to make sure the information and advice they provide takes into consideration the needs of both the patient and their families."