Isles' patient experience survey

Patients will be asked to provide feedback on their stay.

A survey pack will be sent out on January 20 and is expected to arrive on doorsteps a few days later.

The survey pack contains a questionnaire which can be completed by returning the paper copy contained in the survey pack; online via the web address or the code detailed in the covering letter; or by telephone using the phone number also detailed in the covering letter and front of the questionnaire.

The survey is a postal survey, first conducted in early 2010, with the aim of establishing the experience of a sample of adults who had a recent overnight hospital stay.

The survey covers six specific areas of inpatient experience: admission to hospital; the hospital and ward; care and treatment; hospital staff; arrangements for leaving hospital; and care and support services after leaving hospital.

The survey supports the NHS Board, frontline staff and patients in driving forward service improvement and highlights Scottish Government and the NHS commitment to delivering patient-centred care based on a mutual ethos where staff and patients are co-owners of the NHS and have a greater say in the way services are delivered.

The results of the surveys are expected summer 2016 and will be used by the Scottish Government and each Health Board to see where things are going well and where there is need for improvement with local information being used by NHS Western Isles to inform the board and improve service delivery.

Patients are being asked to participate but involvement is entirely voluntary. The information provided by individual patients will be confidential and individual patients will not be identifiable.