A patient satisfaction survey is to be carried out at the four Dublin hospitals which are transferring to the Tallaght hospital. The results will form the basis of patient policy at the new £130 million hospital. The hospital's chief executive, Dr David McCutcheon, said over 400 patients will be asked for an opinion on their hospital stay - care and facilities - over the coming weeks at the Meath, Adelaide, National Children's and St Loman's hospitals . He told The Irish Times a patient ombudsman would also be appointed at the new hospital.
"When people come into hospital they are in the most vulnerable situation possible. We want to know what aspects of need were met or not met and look at the concerns that have been expressed," said Dr McCutcheon. After analysing the "areas of concern", the results will be presented to the people in the areas of the hospital affected so they can "incorporate the concerns into plans or policies".
The survey will take place after the patients leave hospital. "If you look at the literature for surveying patients it says that they feel freer to speak once they are at home and they are in a better situation to judge since many would have been on medication at the time and may have been fearful."
Dr McCutcheon said there are a number of areas that concern patients while they are in hospital: they want to be respected; they want to understand what is wrong with them; how they are going to be treated; to be involved in treatment decisions and to have their family involved in their treatment.
The survey, which was devised by Kieran O'Boyle, professor of psychology at the College of Surgeons, will be repeated after the move to Tallaght to see if there has been improvement. Staff at the four hospitals have also been surveyed in a separate exercise. "We wanted to see what the issues are that we needed to address. There are a number of things involved, including communication, and the development of supervisors and managers. Obviously, staff satisfaction has a bearing on patient satisfaction." This will also be measured again after the move to Tallaght, he said.
Meanwhile, it is believed the hospital is not now due to open fully in January as planned. Instead, a phased opening is being considered by management.