Patients at St George's feel unsafe

3:30pm Friday 16th May 2008

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More patients feel threatened by other patients or visitors at St George's Hosptial than at almost any other hospital in the country, according to a Healthcare Commission survey.

The NHS Trust also ranks among the worst in the country for patients having to share sleeping areas and bathrooms with members of the opposite sex.

Patients across the country were asked a number of questions about admissions, wards, doctors, nurses and treatment.

In the case of St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, the scores given for three of those questions were among the bottom 20 per cent of responses for all hospitals.

In response to the question "Did you feel threatened during your stay by other patients or visitors?", the score for the Blackshaw Road hospital was the fifth lowest out of 165 NHS trusts nationwide.

The trust was 22nd worst for having mixed showers or bathrooms, and 21st worst for mixed sleeping areas.

It was not all bad news, however, as the hospital was in the top 20 per cent for responses to eight of the questions.

St George's fared well when its patients were probed about how much information they were given in the accident and emergency department, the time it took for them to be admitted to hospital, and how easy it was to understand information given by doctors.

Among the other positive response, the trust performed well in questions about doctors and nurses washing their hands.

Patients also rated it highly when it came to their family members having the chance to talk to a doctor, and patients' receiving copies of letters sent between the hospital and GP.

The availability of information about how to make a complaint also got a high-ranking score in the survey.

In response to the question "Overall, how would you rate the care you received?", St George's was the seventh best in the Greater London area.