Up to 27,000 patients are to be asked about their experiences in the country's hospitals as part of a major new survey.

The aim of the National Patient Experience Survey is to give patients the chance to describe their hospital experiences, with this information then being used to improve the health service.

The survey is a joint initiative being run by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the HSE and the Department of Health. This marks the first survey of its kind ever undertaken in Ireland by a partnership of the health service, the Department of Health and HIQA. However, Irishhealth.com's Rate My Hospital service has been surveying patients on a rolling basis since 2006.

Since then, almost 84,000 surveys have been completed and more than 10,900 comments have been made about people's experiences in the country's hospitals.

This latest survey will begin on May 1. All adults who are discharged from a public acute hospital during that month will be invited to take part. Up to 27,000 patients will be eligible, making it the largest single survey of the healthcare system in Ireland.

Patients will be asked 61 questions covering a range of topics such as care and treatment, hospital food and confidence in hospital staff.

Launching the survey at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, described it as a ‘significant new patient safety innovation'.

"This survey will identify areas for improvement providing a direct focus for changes required. I am also confident that through this survey we will discover many examples of good practice which can be shared across the country. Capturing these important messages is vital for patients, hospital managers and not least for the staff providing the care in our hospitals," he commented.

The survey was welcomed by the national patient advocacy organisation, Patient Focus.

"The experiences of patients are crucial to the evaluation of the service provided by our hospitals. For too long patients' voices have not been consistently heard. By means of this survey, patients can tell of their own personal experiences so that their voices can begin to be heard and listened to," said Sheila O'Connor of Patient Focus.

The survey was also welcomed by HSE director general, Tony O'Brien, who said its findings would be used to ‘identify areas of priority and programmes for improvement'.

"Acute hospital services will be working in partnership with patients to identify solutions for the issues identified in the survey and the HSE will publish the agreed quality improvement plans in response to the findings, to demonstrate how we are listening and responding to patient feedback," he commented.

The survey will be open to all adult patients who spend a minimum of one night in a public acute hospital, are discharged in May 2017, and have a postal address in the Republic of Ireland.

Patients will receive the survey by post a few weeks after discharge and can complete it via post or online. For more information on the surveys, click here.

Alternatively, anyone who has stayed in a hospital at any time can give their views on Ratemyhospital.ie