Three quarters of outpatients get an appointment within six weeks

Patients’ experiences of outpatient care and treatment have improved since the last national surveys on the services were carried out, says the health and social care services watchdog

Patients reported improvements in most aspects of outpatient services in 2009, but in particular with waiting times and communication with doctors since the national surveys were last carried out in 2003 and 2004, report findings from the Care Quality Commission.

More than 72 000 adult outpatients who visited 163 acute and specialist NHS trusts in England between July and October 2009 responded to the third outpatient survey, a response …