THE results of a new survey show increasing confidence in care at Royal Bournemouth Hospital – but there are still concerns about the use of same-sex bathrooms.

The Care Quality Commission’s 12th annual survey, completed by 447 adult inpatients who stayed overnight at the hospital in summer 2014, asked for ratings in a number of areas.

The results showed year-on-year improvements in 42 areas – and there were four which placed the trust amongst the best in the country.

However, the number of patients reporting they used the same bathroom or shower as patients of the opposite sex put the hospital in the lowest 20 per cent of trusts.

The hospital's director of nursing, Paula Shobbrook, said: “We are working hard with our teams to address this by improving signage and re-designating bathrooms as male and female depending on how many patients of each sex are on a ward each day.

“We will continue our focus on improvement for patients, including pain control, ensuring dignity for patients remains a high priority and answering call bells more responsively.”

She said she was encouraged by the overall results, including the high rankings in patients feeling their hospital specialist had the right information about their condition, those who felt they were given good information about pain management from their anaesthetist and the number of patients who said they were given written advice when leaving.

“Improve is one of our core values and it is vital that we understand what people think about their care so we can address the areas where patients feel we are not performing as well,” she said.

“We encourage our patients to give their feedback all year round, for example through the Friends and Family Test, and this is an area we will continue to focus on. We want people to let us know while they’re here if they have any concerns and our matrons, sisters and ward staff are more than happy to speak to patients, relatives and carers."