The National Patient Survey Programme is one of the largest patient survey programmes in the world. It provides an opportunity to monitor experiences of health and provides data to assist with registration of trusts and monitoring on-going compliance. Understanding what people think about the care and treatment they receive is crucial to improving the quality of care being delivered by healthcare organisations. One way of doing this is by asking people who have recently used the health service to tell the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about their experiences.

The CQC will use the results from the surveys in the regulation, monitoring and inspection of NHS acute trusts (or, for community mental health service user surveys, providers of mental health services) in England. Data are used in CQC Insight, an intelligence tool which identifies potential changes in quality of care and then supports deciding on the right regulatory response. Survey data will also be used to support CQC inspections.

Each survey has a different focus. These include patients' experiences in outpatient and accident and emergency departments in Acute Trusts, and the experiences of people using mental health services in the community.

History of the programme

The National Patient Survey Programme began in 2002, and was then conducted by the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), along with the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI). Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On 1 April 2009, the CQC was formed, which replaced the Healthcare Commission.

Further information about the National Patient Survey Programme may be found on the CQC Patient Survey Programme web pages.

The Maternity Survey, 2015 looked at all three stages of the maternity pathway and covered care provided before birth (antenatal), during labour and birth, and in the first few weeks after birth (postnatal). The questions related to women’s access to care, communication with staff, involvement in decision-making and continuity of care, among other key themes. Particular attention is given to midwife intervention, choice, type of birth and emotional wellbeing. These factors were identified as being important to the women taking part in the survey, but are also embedded in recent policy concerning maternity care.