Questionnaires are to be sent out to around 1,700 patients who have used Kingston Hospital's accident and emergency or outpatients departments asking for their views on the service.

The questionnaires, which are part of a national survey, are being sent to patients who attended the two departments during January to gauge their experiences so that improvements can be made to ensure that all services meet patients' needs.

Designing and improving services for patients is a key part of the Government's reform for the NHS.

The national survey is now in its second year. Last year, 850 inpatients responded to the survey about their time at Kingston Hospital.

They rated the care they received as generally very good and also praised hospital staff but the survey did identify areas of improvement including:

Waiting times

Information available to patients

Food

Initiatives are in place to speed up waiting times for patients who need to be admitted to a ward after arriving in A&E and to reduce the length of time patients have to

wait for appointments and operations.

Information boards have been mounted around the hospital for patients and hospital meals should improve following the introduction of a new food service in the spring.

Pre-cooked meals will be delivered directly to the hospital and transferred to the wards on new trolleys.

Patients should be able to choose from a wider selection of meals and the advantage of having their food served at their bedside is that portion sizes can be adjusted to meet each person's appetite.

Chief Executive Helen Chalmers said: "We can use the results to improve the quality of our service. And improving A&E in particular is a priority for the trust."

The survey is being conducted by the Commission

for Health Improvement and all replies will be strictly kept anonymous.

January 31, 2003 11:00