Heaps of praise for ambulance service in latest patient survey

“Excellent”, “fantastic”, and “very professional” were just a few of the compliments paid to NHS ambulance staff in the April patient survey.

“Excellent”, “fantastic”, and “very professional” were just a few of the compliments paid to NHS ambulance staff in the April patient survey.

In total, 100 people responded to the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) survey with almost 97% either satisfied or very satisfied with the overall service they received.

There were 100% satisfaction levels in both the cleanliness of equipment used and staff treating patients with dignity and respect.

One patient from north Bedfordshire said: “The crews were very professional, I don’t think I could have been treated any better.”

Whilst one from mid Essex said: “There is no improvement needed, I was very happy with the care I saw given.”

Other high scoring areas for EEAST included attitude of staff, which 99% felt was ‘very professional’; the handling of their calls, which almost 96% felt was either acceptable or very acceptable; and service expectations, which almost 95% felt either met or exceeded theirs.

A patient from east Norfolk said: “To quote the saying ‘you cannot improve on perfection’ as I cannot find anything the crews could have done better. I am full of admiration for all of them.”

Areas of improvement included the length of time patients waited for an ambulance, with 91.5% finding it as very acceptable, fairly acceptable, or acceptable. In addition to comfort of their journey, with almost 9% feeling it needed improvement.

Sandy Brown, Director of Clinical Quality and Nursing, said: “My thanks go to all of those who have taken the time to respond to our latest survey and also to our staff and volunteers for their continued high levels of care and quality to all of our patients – something that is reflected in another set of high survey scores.

“Feedback from our patients is vital in helping us learn and further improve our services moving forward and I’m delighted to see that learning applied into practice day in day out.”

To view the April report in full please visit: http://www.eastamb.nhs.uk/performance/patient-surveys/Patient-experience-report-emergency-services-april-2017.pdf