Results from the recent National Cancer Patient Experience Survey place Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the top 20 per cent of trusts in England for providing excellent care for cancer patients for the second year.
91 per cent of patients surveyed rated the overall care they received as excellent or very good.
654 patients from Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust rated the care they received, from diagnosis to treatment and recovery, in Quality Health’s annual survey. All patients had been seen at one of the Foundation Trust’s hospitals between September and November 2013.
Patients also rated the Foundation Trust highly for their care in the following areas:
94% of patients said their cancer nurse specialist gave them understandable answers to important questions
90% of patients undergoing an operation said staff gave a complete explanation about what would be done
95% of patients said they were given enough privacy when examined or treated
96% of patients said they were told who to contact if worried after discharge
96% of patients said the doctors had the right notes and documentation with them.
Hampshire Hospitals Clinical Director for Cancer Services Dr Lara Alloway said: “These are excellent results, 91 per cent of our patients feel their overall care is excellent or very good. It is really important to us to ensure every patient receives excellent care, at this worrying time.
“Every month the cancer services teams at the Foundation Trust see around 1,000 patients within two weeks of a patient seeing their GP with suspected cancer. It is a worrying time for patients and their families and rapid access to diagnosis is essential. The majority of our patients (86%) felt they were seen as soon as necessary.
“We recognise there are still improvements that can be made and we always want to be better. Next year, we will continue to focus on the level of support patients and their families receive during their treatment, including improvements to written and electronic information.”
Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides cancer services across all three of its hospital sites at Basingstoke and North Hampshire Hospital, Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester, and Andover War Memorial Hospital. In recent years the Foundation Trust has launched a mobile chemotherapy unit, built a radiotherapy unit and renovated the Countess of Brecknock Hospice in Andover. It also plans to create a new cancer treatment centre in the north of Hampshire, which will provide high-quality cancer services closer to patients’ homes, as well as information, advice and support for patients and their families.
The national survey is run by Quality Health, an organisation that specialises in measuring patients’ experiences of hospital services. The full results can be found at www.quality-health.co.uk.
