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National patient experience survey: Results for patients treated in February 2019

1st February, 2022

Individual district health board (DHB) results compared with New Zealand average

Individual DHB survey results are displayed using interactive Tableau charts. If they do not display correctly or you have trouble reading the results, please contact Ying Li. If this is your first time using Tableau, please read the instructions below before proceeding.

Using the interactive charts (below) to read patient experience survey results

  • Use the drop-down box on the homepage below to access a list of DHBs.
  • Select your DHB, keeping New Zealand as the second option – do not use the drop-down box to compare DHBs.
  • Use the tabs along the top to navigate through each domain.
  • Return to the homepage to select a different DHB to compare against the New Zealand average.

Key findings

  • National results for the four domains (communication, partnership, coordination, and physical and emotional needs) have remained broadly consistent across all 19 survey rounds.
  • There was little variation between district health boards (DHBs).

  • The national response rate was consistent with previous rounds at 24 percent.

  • We have undertaken weighting, as before, in line with the methodology and procedure document (1.37MB, PDF)

  •  Note: In the national results webpage, we display run charts to monitor statistically significant trends. Figures 1, 2, 3 and Table 1 have run charts. The run chart for Table 1 allows the user to select a DHB.

National results

Compared with quarter 4, 2018, scores for quarter 1, 2019 remained consistent for all domains.

Figure 1: National average scores for the four domains, 2014–19

The physical and emotional needs domain rated the highest in all survey rounds. It includes the ‘humanitarian’ questions shown in Figure 2, which continuously score highest.

The three questions shown in Figure 3 continuously scored lowest of all the survey questions. As can be seen in Figure 3a, the scores for the question 'Did the hospital staff include your family/whānau or someone close to you in discussions about your care?' have improved significantly since quarter 1, 2017. The median has increased from 55.4 to 58.5 percent. The scores for the question 'Do you feel you received enough information from the hospital on how to manage your condition after your discharge?' have also improved since quarter 2, 2016. The median has increased from 59.3 to 60.9 percent. Apart from quarter 1, 2018, this increase has been sustained.

Figure 2: Highest-rating questions of the four domains, 2014–19 (percent of patients answering most positively)

Figure 3: Lowest-rating questions of the four domains, 2014–19 (percent of patients answering most positively)

Table 1: Score of four domains by DHB, 2014–19

Response rates

The national response rate was consistent with previous rounds at 24 percent.

Figure 4 shows the breakdown of response rates by survey distribution method. Postal surveys have a high processing cost, so we encourage DHBs to undertake surveys via email or SMS where possible.

Figure 4: Response rates by survey distribution type, 2014–19

Response rates per DHB varied from 4 percent to 36 percent (see Table 2). Four DHBs achieved a 30 percent response rate or above in the current survey round. DHBs are required to have at least 30 responses for results to be meaningful. Due to a technical issue in the survey data processing, no result is provided for Northland DHB for this quarter.

Table 2: Response rates by DHB (%), 2014–19

Representation of respondents

Although respondents are reasonably representative of all ages and genders there remain areas of under- and over-representation. Younger people tend to be under-represented, while those between 65 and 74 are over-represented. NZ Europeans tend to be over-represented while other ethnicities are under-represented.

Table 3: Representativeness by demographic group, February 2019