Just under 60 per cent of patients said hospital staff always washed their hands before treating them, a survey has found.
Almost 40 per cent of patients surveyed felt staff did not encourage them to voice their opinion about the service and 62 per cent were unaware that there was a hospital complaints procedure.
The survey also revealed that 96 per cent of patients felt they had been treated with dignity and respect and a similar proportion trusted the hospital staff in charge of their care.
And it was revealed that 8 per cent of patients had to wait more than a year for their treatment.
More than 5,000 patients who had received in patient treatment last year in 25 public and voluntary hospitals were questioned in the largest ever such survey undertaken in Ireland.
Dr Hilary Dunne, chief executive of the Irish Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare, which conducted the survey, said the most important finding was that 95 per cent of patients felt they were treated with dignity and respect.
"If you're treated with dignity and respect while you're in hospital you are 17 times more likely to be satisfied overall."
Some 25 per cent of all patients surveyed smoked and 47.8 per cent said they did not receive advice about quitting while, 31.4 per cent did not want advice and 20.8 per cent said they had received advice from hospital staff.
More than nine out of 10 patients were satisfied with the way their diagnosis was communicated to them while 48.7 per cent of patients admitted to A & E were seen within an hour by a doctor, 28 per cent waited between one and three hours and 7.6 per cent waited more than six hours.
Dr Dunne said the "majority of people being seen within an hour or three hours. But there are a chunk of people who are waiting a long period of time."
She said that was an issue of communication. "I think people are very considerate even when they are ill. If you tell them why they're waiting and if you explain the situation people are actually quite able to say 'well that's ok' if they understand why it's happening. There's nothing worse than waiting in the emergency department and not being told what's happening to you."
Minister for Health Dr James Reilly who attended the launch today of the survey expressed his disappointment at the figures for healthcare staff washing their hands.
"A strategy will have to be put in place to ensure that doctors do wash their hands," he said. He will talk to the HSE and his Department about an initiative where "at least a half a day is spent every six months inculcating people in the need for hand hygiene and how they communicate with patients".
He also said the evidence showed it would be far better if "doctors didn't wear suits into the clinical area, that they wore short-sleeved shirts and didn't wear a tie, and obviously wash their hands in between patients".
