Experiences of admission and discharge from hospital continue to be a concern, according to national survey 

People’s experiences of inpatient care in the NHS in England continue to be worse than in 2020, according to new results from the national NHS Adult Inpatient Survey, which was coordinated by the independent charity Picker on behalf of the Care Quality Commission.  

The survey, which included responses from more than 60,000 people, allows us to develop a well-rounded view of the quality of person centred care provided by hospitals in England – including how different groups of patients experience care.  

Respondents did report positive experiences in some areas. Four in five (82%) felt that they were “always” treated with respect and dignity. This result remains unchanged from 2022. For the first time this year, respondents were asked if they felt they were treated with kindness and compassion while in hospital. A similar proportion (80%) said this was “always” the case. 

Experiences of waiting times and of discharge from hospital continue to be areas where improvement is needed. Of those patients who had a planned admission, 23% said they would like to have been admitted “a bit sooner” and 19% said “a lot sooner” (up from 22% and 17% respectively in 2022). Worryingly, 43% of elective patients said their health deteriorated while waiting to be admitted: up from 41% in 2022. 

On discharge, only one third (33%) said that they were involved “a great deal” in decisions about leaving hospital: a decline from 37% in 2022 and seven percentage points lower than the 2020 result for this question. Just under half of all respondents (48%) said they were “definitely” given enough notice about when they were going to leave hospital: unchanged from 2022 but five percentage points lower than in 2020. 

The survey also provides evidence about inequalities in care experiences. People considered frail reported poorer experiences on each of the seventeen questions analysed for subgroup differences. Concerningly, these questions cover core domains of person centred care such as involvement in decisions, respect and dignity, and support from staff. 

Jenny King, Chief Research Officer at Picker, said:  

“Since 2002, the Adult Inpatient Survey has been a rich source of feedback on the experiences of adults who have been inpatients at an NHS hospital. We see that in many areas of care, experiences continue to be worse than those reported in the 2020 survey. 

Length of waits and experiences at discharge from hospital are two areas where improvement is required. These are both are linked to wider issues in the health and social care system and so experiences are unlikely to improve without a concerted effort to address the pressures faced by the NHS. Efforts to improve services should take into account patients’ priorities in order to ensure that care is person centred. 

The survey explores results for different subgroups, such as people with frailty, and this allows us to see that experiences differ. That some groups report consistently poorer experiences is concerning. This insight should feed into improvement efforts at a local and system level to ensure that a high quality patient experience is experienced by all, always.” 

Notes for Editors

• Picker is an international charity working across health and social care.  Established in the US in 1987 and UK in 2000, our work is at the forefront of understanding the link between patient experience, person centred care, and clinical excellence.  We believe in high quality person centred care for all, always.  
• The Adult Inpatient Survey is coordinated by Picker on behalf of the Care Quality Commission (CQC).  
• The Adult Inpatient Survey 2023 considers the experiences of people 16 and over who were an inpatient at an NHS hospital during November 2023. Fieldwork took place between January and April 2024. A total of 63,573 people responded to the survey, a response rate of 41.7%. 
• Details about how the survey was administered and full results are available here.
• For media enquiries, please contact the Marketing and Communications team at pressoffice@pickereurope.ac.uk