The children’s wards at two Cumbrian hospitals have received the results of a national survey.
The Children and Young People’s Patient Experience Survey 2020 is part of a national survey programme run by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to collect feedback on the experiences of patients using services across the country.
The results contribute to CQC’s assessment of NHS performance as well as ongoing monitoring and inspections. The programme also provides valuable feedback for NHS trusts, which they can then use to improve patient experience.
Questionnaires were sent to a sample of patients – aged between 0 and 15 – who were inpatients at the Cumberland Infirmary and West Cumberland Hospital between November 2020 and January 2021.
Overall 602 questionnaires were mailed, with 161 responses, a response rate of 28 per cent. The trust had an above-average response rate.
The trust scored in the top 20 per cent of trusts in the country on 18 questions including:
- Fifty per cent of patients said they were given a choice of admission dates, up from 14 per cent when the last survey was conducted in 2018;
- Parents also commented on the cleanliness of the wards, rooms and facilities scoring 92 per cent, up from 88 per cent in 2018;
- 93 per cent said the ward had appropriate equipment or adaptation for the child’s physical or medical needs, up from 91 per cent in 2018;
- Privacy also scored very highly, 97 per cent, up from 90 per cent in 2018 and
- Staff introducing themselves – 91 per cent, up from 88 per cent in 2018.
There was an improvement of 10 per cent or more on four questions:
- Choice of admission dates (50 per cent);
- Quality of hospital Wi-Fi (60 per cent);
- The quality of the hospital food (70 per cent);
- Quiet when needed to sleep (77 per cent).
Comparison with other trusts
North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust scored “about the same” when compared with other trusts on 58 questions and “somewhat better than expected” on the other three.
Comparison with the last survey
When comparing the survey results with those of 2018, the trust performed “no different” on 47 questions, “significantly better” on six questions and “significantly worse” on one question.
The question where the trust performed significantly worse was “Were there enough things for your child to do in the hospital?”.
It has been acknowledged that some answers have been impacted by the COVID-19 protocols such as the number of toys being reduced, staff not being able to play with patients and parents not being able to prepare their own food, with those scores falling below the national average.
Claire Moore, Matron for Women and Children’s at NCIC, said: “I would like to sincerely thank all of our staff, particularly those on our children’s wards, for all their hard work, commitment and dedication to the children and young people we care for.
“Working during the pandemic has not been easy for our staff, our young patients and their families. They have not, for example, been able to use the communal play room and we have had restrictions on visitors. But, despite this, we have achieved good results in this survey and we are delighted to have improved in many areas since the last survey was conducted in 2018. We will also be using the results of this survey to look at any further improvements we can make.”
