Aims The aim of our study was to collect feedback by using the RCPCH PREM tool for paediatric urgent and emergency care (A&E), and to try translated versions of the tool to maximise the participation of respondents with limited knowledge of English in a diverse ethnic population

Background Patient/parent satisfaction surveys are important monitoring tools used in the national health service (NHS). Before the Urgent-and-Emergency-Care PREM tool was published by the RCPCH in October 2012 there was no standard feedback form for paediatric A&E. This new tool is a well researched and standardised tool for obtaining children/parent feedback.

Methods Demographic data from the census was collected which showed that our NHS trust caters for a population with a large percentage of Turkish/Greek Cypriot, African and Somalian ethnicity. There is an annual attendance of about 38000 to children’s A&E. While doing the survey, we eliminated the bias due to language-barrier by translating the RCPCH tool in Turkish and Somalian, the two commonly spoken languages in our ethnic population-group. The PREM tool was translated by doctors with knowledge of the languages and was colour coded for adult or children versions. Questionnaires were given to consecutive willing parents and/or children while waiting in the department. The feedback forms were analysed on Microsoft-Excel using common statistical methods.

Results Total of 50 feedback forms were collected. Feedback was given by 12(24%) children, 29(64%) parents and 4(9%) by both. The study group had 19(41%) European, 9(20%) Asian, 12(26%) African and 2(4%) mixed. The main languages spoken were English 25(57%), other European 10(22%), and all other 10(22%). The main highlights of the survey was that 43 of 46 (94%) respondents were satisfied by the services, 24(49%) waited longer than expected, 15(32%) wanted better information while waiting and 4(8%) were not given adequate privacy.

Conclusions The introduction of feedback-forms in multiple languages has perhaps given a more unbiased feedback with more involvement of the ethnic subgroups. The results were overall satisfying but a few specific areas that need improvement were identified. The responses to individual questions will also serve as a baseline for serial monitoring after implementing changes and training in problem areas.