Mater Dei inpatient experience survey launched

Health Minister Joe Cassar today launched Mater Dei Hospital's in-patient satisfaction survey to help improve the quality of efficiency within the hospital, acting as the voice of the patient.

Through Melita's bed touch-screen system, the 20-question anonymous survey, in both Maltese and English, is designed for the hospital's management and policymakers to collect data on patients' episodes of care and address any issues accordingly.

"All the wards' data will be collected separately," Joseph Caruana, the hospital's chief executive officer, said, which begged the question if the system was really anonymous or not.

When asked how a system can be anonymous when each ward will be specifically recorded separately while the survey is conducted through the bed's touch-screen system avaialble in every room, Caruana assured those present that the patient participating in the survey would still remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, Cassar said that "the in-patient survey is based on the same lines as the UK's Picker patient experience".

Picker believes patient-centered care is about engaging the patient, the care-giver and the physician in the entire healthcare experience.

The user-friendly survey, which is answered by the patient prior to being discharged, includes questions whether the patient is satisfied with the cleanliness, hospitality and last but not least the care given by hospital staff.

"This is a snapshot of what patients think about the general treatment they are given. The results of the survey will be used by Mater Dei to improve the hospital's performance by understanding patients' experiences.

"Eliciting feedback from patients about their stay is vital to highlight aspects in specific areas of care that need improvement and to monitor performance and quality," Cassar said.