CQC: Adult inpatient survey 2025

Summary

This Care Quality Commission survey looks at the experiences of people who stayed at least one night in hospital as an inpatient.

People were eligible to take part in the survey if they stayed in hospital for at least one night during November 2025 and were aged 16 years or over at the time of their stay.

Content

Findings

Overall experience

• 38% of respondents rated their overall experience of inpatient care highly, with scores of 10 (‘I had a very good experience’) out of 10 – a statistically significant increase compared with 2024 (37%). Analysis of the most positive response option also shows a statistically significant upward trend for this question since 2021 (36%).

• Those who rated their overall care experience a 9 (15%) remains unchanged compared to 2024, whilst those who gave a rating of 8 (18%) decreased by 0.5 percentage points (statistically significant), and 10% rated their overall care a 7 (unchanged compared to 2024).

• One in five (19%) gave their overall experience of inpatient care a rating of 6 or lower.

Interactions with hospital staff

• 79% of respondents said they ‘always’ had confidence and trust in the nurses treating them, a statistically significant increase compared with 2024 (78%).

• 62% of respondents ‘always’ felt able to talk to members of hospital staff about their worries and fears, a statistically significant increase compared with 60% in 2024. Analysis of the most positive response option also shows a statistically significant upward trend for this question since 2021 (59%).

• 73% of respondents said they ‘always’ understood the answers to questions they asked to doctors, with the same proportion (73%) saying this of questions they asked to nurses. Both results have remained unchanged compared with 2024.

Involvement in care

• 77% of respondents ‘always’ felt included in conversations about their care by doctors, a statistically significant increase compared with 76% in 2024.

• 77% of respondents ‘always’ felt included in conversations about their care by nurses, unchanged from 2024.

• 38% of respondents felt hospital staff involved them ‘a great deal’ in decisions about their care and treatment, a statistically significant increase compared with 37% in 2024.

Staff availability

• 59% of respondents felt that there were ‘always’ enough nurses on duty, a statistically significant increase compared with 58% in 2024. Analysis of the most positive response option shows a statistically significant upward trend for this question since 2021 (55%).

• 65% of respondents said that they were able to get a member of staff to help them when they needed attention. Analysis of the most positive response option shows a statistically significant upward trend for this question since 2021 (63%).

Meeting patients fundamental needs

• 73% of respondents who needed help from staff to eat their meals were ‘always’ able to get help with this, a statistically significant increase compared with 71% in 2024.

• 73% of respondents said that they were ‘always’ able to take medicine they brought with them when they needed to, a statistically significant increase compared with 70% in 2024.

Key areas for improvement

Involving family and carers in discharge planning

• 21% of respondents who thought it was necessary said hospital staff did not involve their family or carers in decisions about them leaving hospital at all, with a further 17% saying they were ‘not very much’ involved.

• 26% of respondents who thought it was necessary said their family or carers were not given the information they needed to care for them at home.

Post-discharge care

• 22% of respondents said hospital staff did not discuss with them whether they would need any further health or social care services after leaving hospital but ‘would have liked them to’, with no statistically significant change compared with 2024 (21%).

• 24% of respondents said they did not get enough support from health or social care services to help them recover or manage their condition after leaving hospital, a statistically significant increase compared with 23% in 2024.

Ward cleanliness

• 69% of respondents felt their hospital room or ward was ‘very clean’, a statistically significant decrease compared to 2024 (70%). The proportion who felt their room or ward was ‘fairly clean’ (27%) has risen compared to 2024 (26%), a statistically significant increase.

• Analysis of the proportion of respondents who answered ‘very clean’ showed a statistically significant downward trend for this question since 2021 (74%).