Confidence in nurses lower among service users

People with learning disabilities and mental health problems are likely to have ‘poorer’ experiences of staying in hospital, a poll of 83,000 NHS inpatients in England has found.

Vulnerable people in these groups are less likely to feel involved in decisions about their care, according to the Care Quality Commission’s 2015 adult inpatient survey.

‘In all areas of the analysis, the experience of patients who have mental health conditions was poorer than for patients with no mental health conditions,’ the authors wrote. The experiences of patients with a learning disability were also poorer across most aspects of patients’ experiences.’

Person-centred approach

Overall, 59% of people said they felt as though they always received enough emotional support from hospital staff during their stay. But the figure was lower for those with a learning disability or mental health problem – 42% and 52% respectively.

University of Derby acting head of mental health nursing Alison Kilduff said adopting a person-centred approach was ‘absolutely central’ for nurses.

She said acute wards were busy with a high turnover of patients and staff, and nurses often did not have time to talk.

‘The main thing is to put the person at the centre of care – everything we do impacts on someone’s experience,’ she said.

Confidence and trust in nurses was lower for those who had a learning disability (71%) – compared with 79% for the majority population.

In contrast, confidence and trust for those who do not have a mental health condition (80%) or a learning disability (79%) was higher.

NHS England patient experience director Neil Churchill said his organisation would continue to drive the development and improvement of patient care.

Dr Churchill said: ‘We know there is more we can do.’