Patient survey highlights lack of communication

The largest ever survey of patients in Irish hospitals has found many are unhappy at the lack of communication from healthcare staff.

Almost 5,000 patients in 26 hospitals were questioned on behalf of the Irish Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare.

Nearly 50% of patients said they were given no details about the side effects of medicine prescribed to them during their stay in hospital.

The survey showed that about 20% of them had questions that they wanted to ask members of their healthcare team but didn’t and 10% were too intimidated to do so.

A quarter said that staff discussed medical issues at their beside while ignoring them and many felt staff didn’t encourage them to voice their opinions on the services they received.

More than half had been on waiting lists for less than three months but one-in-eight had waited for a year or more.

About 80% of A&E patients were seen within three hours but 11% had to wait 12 hours or more for a bed.

On the positive side however, people were happy with levels of privacy and said that staff treated them with dignity and respect.