Results of the 2008/2009 Hospice Patient Survey. General Report

The 2008/09 survey is the third in a series of surveys on patient satisfaction with inpatient and daycare services carried out by Help the Hospices and the Centre for Health Services Studies at the University of Kent, with previous surveys being completed in 2004/05 and 2006/07. All hospices across the UK were invited to take part in the 2008/09 Patient Survey and 52 hospices participated between July 2008 and February 2009.

The method of data collection was a self-completion questionnaire, with one questionnaire for adult users of daycare services and another for inpatient services. Each hospice distributed a questionnaire and an accompanying information letter to inpatients at discharge and to daycare patients at discharge or after two months of attending daycare. The survey included respite patients, those being discharged for terminal care at home, and readmissions even though the latter group may have been given the opportunity to complete the questionnaire more than once.

There were 2222 replies, 1259 from daycare users and 963 from inpatients. For the 50% of hospices that supplied sufficient details on distribution, there was an overall response rate of 62% for daycare, and 41% for inpatients. Results are shown separately for the two services, and as well as the figures for all hospices, the report gives the results for hospices that achieved the benchmark figure of 40 responses.

Results in 2008/9 were similar to the previous survey with the many patients expressing high levels of satisfaction with the services they received.