"Very good hospital"

Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback on your experience at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. We are very pleased that many aspects of your stay were positive. However, we have been interested to read some of the less positive feedback and suggestions you have made to improve the patient and visitor experience. Your comments have been passed onto the senior staff responsible for the services you mention; they will ensure your feedback is shared with their team members. It is a real morale boost for staff to receive positive feedback from patients and their relatives. It means such a lot to know that the hard work, dedication and commitment of our staff is recognised and valued in this way. It is also very satisfying for staff to hear they have made such a difference to patients and made sure your experience under our care has been positive. The comments about the areas where we didn’t quite get it right will help us to reflect on the service we provide and will influence the developments and improvements we make. In response to some of the points raised, we have provided some seating areas on each floor of the hospital and will review whether this is enough. We have artwork displays from ‘Arts in Hospital’ on level 0 near the visitor lifts and Imaging Department, and have regular exhibitions in the main Outpatient and Oncology Outpatient areas. However, we recognise that we do not currently have any on the ward floors. Currently, our Young Person’s Council are involved in a project to work with local universities to install some artwork on level 4. If this is a success we will be looking to do some more on other levels. So we hope that should you need to visit the hospital later this year you will be able to see the new installations. With regard to food and drink provision. We appointed a new Catering Manager in the middle of 2013 who is currently reviewing the food and drink for our patients and so your feedback has been passed on to be considered alongside other feedback we have received from our patients. Our Hospital Chaplains are very much part of the multi-disciplinary team providing care and treatment to our patients, and so have access to limited elements of the patient record to be able to ensure patients have access to appropriate spiritual, religious and pastoral support. Chaplains will also speak to many patients as part of their routine visits to wards and departments, regardless of their religion or faith status. We hope that this clarifies why a Chaplain visited during your stay. At University Hospitals Birmingham we are always keen to receive feedback from our patients and visitors as it helps us to ensure we are delivering the best in care. Please continue to tell us if things went well so that we can share this with the teams who cared for you. If we don’t get it right please let us know so that we can take action to make sure we get it right in the future. There are a number of ways you can do this, some of which are listed below; • Fill out our patient experience surveys; we have them for day case or short stay patients, inpatients, and those who attend the Emergency Department. • There are general surveys asking about all aspects of your experience as well as others relating to specific aspects of your stay e.g. the operating theatre and food. You may also be contacted by post and given the opportunity to complete a survey relating to your discharge from hospital or your outpatient attendance. • Fill in a Trust feedback leaflet, displayed in all patient and public areas – please ask staff if they are not easily visible. • Become a ‘mystery patient’ and tell us about your experience, you can do this just once or each time you attend the hospital. For further information on these and other ways you can give us your feedback please contact patientexperience@uhb.nhs.uk or telephone us on 0121 371 4491/2