If you or a family member (aged 16+) were discharged from one of our hospitals in November 2026 following an overnight stay, you may be selected to share your feedback by completing the National Adult Inpatient Survey.
This is separate to our local Patient Experience Survey which is given on the day you are discharged from hospital. If you are selected, you will be contacted sometime between January and April 2027.
Every response matters – helping us understand what we are doing well and how we could improve services for the diverse communities we serve.
Some common questions and answers about the survey are below:
Any patients aged 16+ who stayed at least one night in hospital and were discharged during November 2026 may be selected to share their experiences through the National Adult Inpatient Survey. They will be contacted by Picker – the independent survey provider acting on behalf of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.
Patients will be invited to complete the survey online using a computer, tablet device or mobile phone. A paper questionnaire will also be available during the survey process.
Taking part is voluntary and confidential, and will not affect their future care in any way.
Patients who require the survey in another language can access telephone-assisted support through a dedicated helpline – the details will be on the invitation. A multi-language information sheet is also included with the postal survey which has a unique link and QR code to the online survey, where patients can select their preferred language.
The survey asks patients about different aspects of their hospital experience, including the quality of care and treatment, communication with staff, the information provided, and the hospital environment. These questions are designed to understand what is working well from the patient’s perspective and where further improvements could be made.
No, the National Adult Inpatient Survey is different to the local Patient Experience Survey which all patients are asked to complete when they are discharged from one of our hospitals. The two surveys provide different opportunities for patients to share their experiences and shape future improvements. Although participation is voluntary, we encourage all patients to complete both surveys if invited to do so.
At MFT, we value any opportunities for our patients to share their experiences of our services. The National Adult Inpatient Survey covers all aspects of the patient journey including communication, dignity and respect, pain management, and arrangements for leaving hospital.
As the survey is undertaken annually, it enables us to monitor changes in patient experience over time to see where improvements are required and assess whether actions taken in response to previous feedback are making a difference.
Nationally, the results are used by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as part of its wider assessment and monitoring of NHS services. Locally, they provide important evidence to inform priorities and actions to improve the quality of care and patient experience.
Feedback from previous years has helped us to understand where patients are having a positive experience, where improvements are needed, and whether changes made are resulting in a better experience over time. The 2024 survey highlighted opportunities to improve access to food outside normal mealtimes, meeting patients’ dietary and accessibility needs, and patients being able to get help when they needed attention.
Encouragingly, the 2025 survey showed improvement in several of those areas – the proportion of patients who said they could access food outside mealtimes increased from 74% to 81%, while those receiving enough help to eat meals increased from 86% to 94%. The 2025 results also showed significant improvements in patients being able to access help when they needed attention.