Multicultural feedback to improve patient experience at Auburn Hospital
Auburn Hospital has committed to improving patient experience across the facility by helping people to make their voice heard in their own language.
Consumer representatives who speak languages including Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tamil and Hindi are now engaging in face-to-face conversations to obtain patient feedback.
The representatives, who are volunteers, partner with Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) to improve health for the community.
Consumer representative Elena Wehbe was full of praise for the initiative after speaking to patients in Arabic in the outpatients waiting room earlier this month.
“I talked to two women and at first they didn’t know I’m from the same background as them, and they said everything is great in this hospital,” Elena said.
“Then I asked if we could speak in Arabic, and they opened up about everything and we had a great chat, a very long chat, and they spoke more honestly about their overall experience.”
Community and consumer partnerships manager Dr Coralie Wales said the feedback so far has been encouraging.
“The feedback from patients and consumer representatives was so great that we will make sure that these conversations happen regularly,” Dr Wales said.
“Patient safety and quality improves when the hospital knows how the patient experiences the services, and gives feedback on what can be done to improve them.”
As well as these conversations with patients, Auburn Hospital has decided to run a monthly initiative called Feedback Friday, which will ask patients to give their feedback through the My Experience Matters survey.
The survey allows patients to tell us what we did well and what we could improve, and asks three core questions:
- Were you treated with kindness and respect?
- How likely are you to recommend this hospital or service to family and friends if they need similar care or treatment?
- Were you involved, as much as you wanted to be, in decisions about care and treatment?
WSLHD aims for an overall patient experience score of at least 85 out of 100.
If you’d like to become a consumer representative for WSLHD, go to the Consumer Partnership website or email coralie.wales@health.nsw.gov.au.
