2020 Urgent and Emergency Care Survey

Satisfaction with urgent and emergency care has gone up: the proportion of patients who rated their overall experience as ‘10 out of 10’ has increased from 27% in 2016 to 33% in 2020 for Type 1 services (emergencies), and from 33% in 2016 to 44% in 2020 for Type 3 services (minor injuries).

81% said they were treated with dignity and respect ‘all of the time’ while in A&E, and well over three quarters ‘definitely’ had confidence and trust in the doctors and nurses. Similar proportions said that health professionals ‘definitely’ listened to what they had to say, and on privacy, 84% of Type 1 and 91% of Type 3 patients were ‘definitely’ given enough privacy when being examined or treated. There were also high levels of satisfaction with information on, and availability of, support after going home.

The biggest positive change was in perceptions of cleanliness, with an eleven percentage point increase on 2018 results. These findings are among the largest year-to-year differences ever observed by NHS Patient Survey Programme surveys and likely reflect enhanced infection control and prevention measures in urgent and emergency care services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Declines in patient experience were evident in the areas of shared decision-making, and discussion about anxieties and fears, where only 51% of Type 1 patients had felt able to ‘completely’ discuss these. Other areas where satisfaction was lower were pain control, help with managing symptoms and getting the attention of staff.

Room for improvement can also be found in discharge, where 40% of Type 1 patients said they were not given enough information about medication side effects, and just 60% said that staff ‘definitely’ gave them enough information to help care for their condition at home.

The survey found that age, attendance duration and sex were consistently associated with experience. Patients aged 16 to 35 and people whose attendance lasted longer than four hours reported poorer than average experiences across all experience themes. Females, people who reported a mental health condition, and people who had visited the service recently reported poorer than average experiences on most themes.