Patient satisfaction with hospital care
Published
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1. Main facts and figures
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patients who stayed in hospitals in England in July 2019 had an average satisfaction score of 76.0 out of 100
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White Irish patients were the most satisfied out of all ethnic groups (78.6)
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patients from the Bangladeshi ethnic group were the least satisfied (69.2)
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in the 7 years covered by this data, White Irish patients were consistently among the most satisfied
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patients from the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups were consistently among the least satisfied
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows how satisfied hospital patients were with their care.
The data is based on people aged 16 and over who stayed in hospital for at least 1 night in England during the snapshot period. For the year ending March 2014 and the year ending March 2015, the snapshot period was from June to August. For the year ending March 2016 onwards, the snapshot period was July. For example, the data for the year ending March 2020 is based on a survey of people who were in hospital in July 2019.
Each ethnic group has an average score out of 100, rounded to 1 decimal place.
Not included in the data
The data does not include:
- patients receiving maternity or mental health treatment
- day care patients
- private patients (non-NHS)
Data is not shown if it is based on fewer than 30 people in any ethnic group. This is to protect people’s confidentiality and because the numbers involved are too small to make reliable generalisations.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the 18 ethnic groups used in the 2011 Census.
Ethnicity was known for 96% of patients in the 2019 snapshot period.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data.
You can also read the quality statement (PDF opens in a new window or tab) from NHS Digital and the technical document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) from the Care Quality Commission.
Only 5% of respondents in the most recent period were not White (around 3,700 people). You can read more about how group size affects the reliability of data.
The data has been weighted to account for differences in:
- response rates between NHS trusts
- patients’ age and gender in different survey years
Read more about how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied.
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | Average score |
|---|---|
| All | 76.0 |
| Asian | |
| Bangladeshi | 69.2 |
| Chinese | 76.0 |
| Indian | 74.8 |
| Pakistani | 72.6 |
| Asian other | 77.1 |
| Black | |
| Black African | 76.9 |
| Black Caribbean | 75.0 |
| Black other | 74.1 |
| Mixed | |
| Mixed White/Asian | 76.3 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 76.4 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 72.9 |
| Mixed other | 77.2 |
| White | |
| White British | 76.1 |
| White Irish | 78.6 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 73.2 |
| White other | 76.5 |
| Other | |
| Arab | 77.5 |
| Any other | 70.8 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Patient satisfaction with hospital care By ethnicity Summary
The data shows that:
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the average satisfaction score for hospital patients was 76.0 out of 100
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the most satisfied patients were from the White Irish (80.4), Arab (77.5), Mixed Other (77.2), and Asian Other (77.1) ethnic groups
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the least satisfied were from the Bangladeshi (69.2) and Any Other (70.8) ethnic groups
4. By ethnicity over time
| Ethnicity | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average score | Average score | Average score | Average score | Average score | Average score | Average score | |
| All | 76.9 | 76.6 | 77.3 | 76.7 | 76.7 | 76.2 | 76.0 |
| Asian | |||||||
| Bangladeshi | 70.8 | 72.7 | 73.2 | 72.0 | 70.0 | 77.8 | 69.2 |
| Chinese | 70.8 | 78.5 | 73.7 | 73.4 | 78.4 | 76.6 | 76.0 |
| Indian | 73.9 | 74.0 | 75.9 | 74.8 | 75.4 | 74.7 | 74.8 |
| Pakistani | 72.3 | 72.0 | 73.5 | 74.4 | 73.8 | 72.0 | 72.6 |
| Asian other | 78.7 | 77.0 | 80.0 | 77.4 | 79.0 | 77.1 | 77.1 |
| Black | |||||||
| Black African | 76.5 | 75.5 | 77.8 | 76.3 | 77.3 | 78.8 | 76.9 |
| Black Caribbean | 74.6 | 77.0 | 76.1 | 75.0 | 74.0 | 75.3 | 75.0 |
| Black other | 72.8 | 77.1 | 71.1 | 78.6 | 73.5 | 80.4 | 74.1 |
| Mixed | |||||||
| Mixed White/Asian | 75.5 | 75.5 | 75.1 | 74.3 | 74.3 | 74.2 | 76.3 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 68.6 | 78.1 | 71.6 | 78.6 | 74.2 | 74.3 | 76.4 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 75.5 | 82.1 | 79.6 | 74.5 | 76.4 | 73.8 | 72.9 |
| Mixed other | 80.7 | 70.1 | 79.3 | 80.6 | 79.8 | 76.7 | 77.2 |
| White | |||||||
| White British | 77.1 | 76.8 | 77.6 | 76.9 | 77.4 | 76.4 | 76.1 |
| White Irish | 78.9 | 79.7 | 80.3 | 81.1 | 80.7 | 79.6 | 78.6 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 59.0 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 75.1 | 81.9 | 84.6 | 75.8 | 73.2 |
| White other | 77.8 | 75.4 | 77.3 | 77.8 | 78.9 | 76.3 | 76.5 |
| Other | |||||||
| Arab | 71.6 | 72.5 | 76.6 | 77.4 | 77.6 | 76.9 | 77.5 |
| Any other | 80.4 | 70.9 | 78.4 | 78.0 | 82.8 | 73.0 | 70.8 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Patient satisfaction with hospital care By ethnicity over time Summary
The data shows that:
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patients from the White Irish ethnic group were consistently among the most satisfied with their hospital care
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with the exception of the year ending March 2019, Bangladeshi patients were also among the least satisfied
5. Data sources
Source
4b Patient experience of hospital care
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
NHS Digital
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Care Quality Commission adult inpatient survey helps healthcare providers understand what a stay in hospital is like for patients. It can be used to encourage improvements both nationally and locally, and to measure and compare the performance of individual NHS trusts.
Secondary source
2019 Adult Inpatient Survey: Statistical release
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Care Quality Commission
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The statistical release provides more information about the Adult Inpatient Survey, including the results for all questions and contextual policy information.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, period of coverage, value. There is no unweighted sample size data.