Patient experience of being treated with dignity and respect

Treating patients with dignity and respect is fundamental to person-centred care. The Inpatient Survey shows that the percentage of patients feeling they are treated with dignity and respect has increased from 79% to 84%. With 15 million admissions, a 5 percentage point increase can make a difference to many thousands of people. There has been substantial improvement in this measure (which is quite rare for patient and staff surveys).

But there’s still more to do, as almost 1 in 5 people did not feel they were treated with dignity and respect. While we should welcome the improvements over the past decade, we should not become complacent – dignity, compassion and respect should underpin all NHS care.