Patients' reports of admission and discharge to hospital revealed mixed experiences. Over half of the patients (55 per cent) admitted via the accident and emergency department were seen by a doctor in less than one hour.
Fifteen per cent reported delays of three hours or more and 5 per cent experienced a wait of six or more hours.
Once patients were told that they would be admitted to hospital, almost one in three (31 per cent) waited no more than one hour before being admitted to the ward. However, almost one in 10 (11 per cent) reported delays of half a day or more.
The report highlighted difficulties in the Government's target of reducing waiting times for in-patient procedures to no longer than 12 months.
While over half of patients (51 per cent) were admitted to hospital from a waiting list within three months, around one in eight (12 per cent) reported delays of one year or more.
Almost one in five patients (19 per cent) admitted to hospital via a waiting list reported that their original date of admission had been cancelled and rescheduled by the hospital at least once.
When it came to discharge six out of ten patients were informed of the decision to discharge either during the morning rounds or within one to three hours of leaving the hospital.
Around one in six patients (16 per cent) expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of information they received in relation to follow-up care.