Results from the survey

This section presents key results for the 2020 survey of adult inpatient experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well as reporting results for all patients admitted to hospital during the first wave of the pandemic, we highlight ‘statistically significant’ differences between the results for patients with COVID-19 and those who did not have the virus. A result that is ‘statistically significant’ is one that is unlikely to have arisen by chance.

Overall, patients were positive about their experiences of care in hospital during this time. However, people with a COVID-19 diagnosis were generally less positive in response to any of the questions we asked, and were especially more negative about their discharge experience.

Previous adult inpatient surveys show that patients who had an unplanned admission (for example, those admitted after a visit to A&E) report poorer experiences than patients who had an elective (planned) admission. Of note, almost all patients with a COVID-19 diagnosis (either before admission or during their stay) were admitted in response to an emergency or were unplanned (97% with COVID-19 compared with 88% who did not have a COVID-19 diagnosis).

We have compared how different groups of patients rated their inpatient experience, to understand whether health inequalities exist and to allow these to be addressed. There was a great deal of consistency in experience between demographic subgroups and NHS region, and these findings are summarised section looking at the experience of different groups of patients.

For comparison of results with previous adult inpatient surveys, and a note on the limitations of these comparisons, see Appendix C in the PDF version of the report.

Survey results are discussed under the following key themes:

• Person-centred care
• Meeting patients’ fundamental needs
• Infection prevention and control
• Staff and communications
• Patient discharge from hospital
• Overall experience
• Experience of different groups of patients

Note that responses to questions such as ‘don't know/can’t remember’ are not shown and are excluded when calculating percentages. ‘Don’t know/can’t remember’ and similar responses are provided to accommodate respondents who cannot remember or may not have an opinion on a particular element of their experience.

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