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National patient experience survey: Results for patients treated in August 2018

1 Feb 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 17 survey rounds.
  • There was little variation between district health boards (DHBs).
  • The national response rate was consistent with previous rounds at 25 percent.
  • We have undertaken weighting, as before, in line with the methodology and procedure document.
  • The question “Did the hospital staff include your family/whānau or someone close to you in discussions about your care?” in Figure 3a had a statistically significant shift upwards, which is promising.
  • 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 DHB.

National results

Compared with quarter 2, 2018, scores for quarter 3, 2018, was about the same for all domains, after remaining consistent since quarter 2, 2015. These results are within the bounds of previous results. 

Figure 1: National average scores for the four domains, 2014–18

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 the highest.

The three questions shown in Figure 3 continuously scored the lowest of all the survey questions.

Figure 2: Highest-rating questions of the four domains, 2014–18 (percent of patients answering most positively)

Figure 3: Lowest-rating questions of the four domains, 2014–18 (percent of patients answering most positively)

Table 1: Score of four domains by DHB, 2014–18

The national median for the question “Did the hospital staff include your family/whānau or someone close to you in discussions about your care?” had a statistically significant shift upwards from 55.4 to 58.2 in Q1 2017.

Fifteen of the twenty DHBs show this shift, which indicates that the change has been widespread across DHBs.

Response rates

The national response rate was consistent with previous rounds at 25 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, 2014–18

Response rates per DHB varied between 15 percent and 41 percent (see Table 1). Three 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. (See also Appendix 1 for per-DHB scores for each of the four domains.) 

Table 2: Representativeness by DHB, August 2018

Representation of respondents

Nationally, respondents were reasonably representative of all ages and genders.

The under-representation of people continued for people in the 15–24, 25–44 and 85+ age groups and for people in Māori, Pacific and Asian ethnic groups. Table 2 gives a demographic breakdown of respondents.

Table 3: Representativeness by demographic group, August 2018

Downloadable attachments

National patient experience survey: Results for patients treated in August 2018 (934 KB, PDF)