Patients rate QVH among the best hospitals for cancer care

Monday 29th September 2014

The findings of the 2014 national cancer patient experience survey show that patients rate QVH as one of the best hospitals in the country for cancer care.

The survey of adult cancer patients is carried out annually. It helps the NHS to improve the way it cares for patients and enables hospital trusts to see how they are doing year-on-year and how they compare with others.

QVH scored among the top 20% of hospital trusts in England for 38 of the 56 questions patients were asked about the hospital and only scored worse than average for four questions.

QVH achieved the top scores out of all 153 trusts for 11 of the questions, including:

  • Giving a complete explanation of test results in an understandable way (91%)
  • Giving understandable answers to important questions all / most of the time (95%)
  • Patient confidence and trust in the doctors treating them (94%)
  • Patients able to discuss worries or fears with staff (80%)
  • Patients always feeling treated with dignity and respect (94%)
  • Families given all information needed to help care at home (80%)

In addition to the high levels of trust and confidence in QVH doctors, patients also rated QVH in the top 20% of trusts for all the questions about the quality of nursing care.

QVH is the region’s specialist centre for skin cancer and head and neck cancer in addition to providing breast reconstructions following cancer.

Amanda Parker, Director of Nursing and Quality, said: “We always strive to do our very best for all our patients so it is pleasing to see that patients rate their care at QVH so highly. This really is a reflection of the professionalism, commitment and compassion of our staff.

“These surveys are very valuable to help us see how we are doing year on year and where we need to improve. We’ll be looking at the results in detail to see what more we can do, particularly to improve some of the written information we provide to patients, as this was one of our lowest scores.”

Carol Fenton, General Manager for Macmillan Cancer Support in South East England says, “We congratulate QVH for achieving some of the best results in the recent patient experience survey. We know that the support and care people receive is as important as their actual treatment, and can make all the difference between coping with cancer and finding it a real struggle.”

Macmillan and QVH offer an information and support centre at the QVH site in East Grinstead. The service is available to anyone affected by cancer, not just QVH patients, and can be contacted on 01342 414369.

Postal questionnaires were sent out to all adult patients (16 years and over) who attended an NHS hospital as an inpatient or day case patient with a primary diagnosis of cancer between September and November 2013. Sixty-five QVH patients completed the survey, a response rate of 75%.

The survey was carried out by Quality Health on behalf of NHS England. The national results, along with individual trust reports, are available from http://www.quality-health.co.uk/surveys/national-cancer-patient-experience-survey