Patients at Dorset County Hospital have said their experience at A&E is 'better than expected' - but scored waiting times low.

Despite ongoing pressures faced by the Dorchester-based hospital's emergency department, the Urgent and Emergency Care Survey saw 87 per cent of patients rate their overall experience highly.

It was carried out by the Picker Institute on behalf of the Care Quality Commission, and captured the views and experiences of 467 patients who attended DCH’s emergency department between April and July last year.

Patients were asked for feedback on their arrival, waiting times, privacy, doctors and nurses, care and treatment, tests, hospital environment and facilities, support recovery at home, leaving A&E, respect and dignity and overall experience.

The hospital scored ‘better than expected’ in overall patient experience in comparison with other trusts, and also scored ‘better than expected’ in questions focused on leaving A&E and ‘somewhat better than expected’ in questions focused on privacy and respect and dignity.

In the remaining questions, DCH scored ‘about the same’ in comparison to other trusts, however, this included low scores on information about waiting times with patients rating their experience as 3.2 out of 10.

Patients also scored the hospital low when being updated on waiting times with 3.8 out of 10.

Emergency department matron Clare Turnbull said: “Our emergency department team has been doing incredible work to ensure patients coming through our doors are seen and treated as quickly as possible.

“They go over and above every day in a busy department and we are lucky to have such a focused and dedicated team. The results reflect just how hard everyone works and they should be very proud of themselves.”

Areas for improvement included further information being provided on how patients can care for their condition at home, ensuring patients understand the explanation given by a doctor or nurse on the condition and treatment and further explanation as to why certain tests were needed.

Chief nursing officer at Dorset County Hospital Dawn Dawson added: “We are really proud of the latest results.

"They highlight how hard the team work to ensure we provide high-quality care and give our patients the best experience possible and we are incredibly grateful for everything they do.”