Welcome to the new BHI website. During its staged implementation, earlier reports not available on this site can be accessed on the old website.

About the NSW Patient Survey Program

Every year we ask thousands of people to tell us about their experiences in the NSW public healthcare system.

After analysing the feedback, we publish the results to help ensure patients’ voices drive improvements in experiences and outcomes of care.

The statewide program provides robust and reliable measures of patient experience performance at NSW, local health district and hospital level.

Why do we survey patients?

Each patient survey provides invaluable information about the quality of care from the perspective of the people using the healthcare system. We ask patients about aspects of their care such as their overall satisfaction and outcomes, the timeliness and coordination of their care, whether they were involved in decisions, and whether they received clear information.

Their responses provide first-hand insights for healthcare professionals and system managers into what hospitals and healthcare services are doing well and where they could improve.

Results from the program complement other sources of patient feedback by providing fair and reliable trends and comparisons for the purposes of performance management, program evaluation and service improvement.

What is the NSW Patient Survey Program?

Patients are invited to give feedback about their experiences of care from NSW Health in a range of ways. The NSW Patient Survey Program, managed by BHI, is the statewide program designed to provide robust and reliable measures of patient experience performance at NSW, local health district and hospital level.

At the core of the program are the Adult Admitted Patient Survey and the Emergency Department Patient Survey, which run all year round. Additional surveys run periodically in areas such as virtual care, outpatient cancer clinics, rural and regional facilities and the Aboriginal Patient Experience Survey Program.

How are the results used?

NSW Patient Survey Program surveys are designed to strengthen accountability and inform improvements in the quality of patient care. They are the source for:

  • fair and reliable benchmarks and trends at NSW, local health district and hospital level for patient experience performance
  • reliable analyses of patient experience for different population groups (e.g. Aboriginal people, rural and regional patients, and patients from linguistically diverse communities)
  • key performance indicators for local health districts used in performance management processes
  • the monitoring and evaluation of a number of key statewide plans, policies and programs
  • publicly reported information that supports accountability and demonstrates NSW Health’s commitment to elevating the human experience.

The breadth and reliability of our results, and their availability at hospital and local health district level, means they can be used to shape and track strategic priorities for improving patients' experiences.

See patient survey results

Who is invited to take part in a survey?

We select a representative sample of patients to participate in each survey and send them a questionnaire approximately one to three months after their hospital or clinic visit. This delay allows patients time to reflect on their experiences and to answer questions about what happened to them after they completed their care.

People who do not receive a questionnaire can provide feedback about their experience by contacting their hospital or local health district directly.

How do people complete the questionnaire?

People who receive a survey can complete it either online or on paper. Most surveys will take about 15–20 minutes to complete. For people who have received a BHI survey questionnaire, more information can be found here.

How is privacy protected?

BHI manages this program on behalf of NSW Health, working with survey vendor Ipsos Public Affairs. We treat all respondents’ information and feedback confidentially, in accordance with our Privacy Statement which is available here.

Surveys in the field

Questionnaire cover

Adult Admitted Patient Survey

2023

Questionnaire cover

Adult Admitted Patient Survey for Aboriginal patients

2023

Questionnaire cover

Emergency Department Patient Survey

2023–24

Have you received a questionnaire?

Your feedback about the NSW public healthcare system will be used to help improve healthcare services

Find out more