Cancer patients are having an improved experience and receiving better care at our hospitals, a national survey has revealed.

Of the cancer patients who took part in the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2016, 91 per cent said their overall care was good or very good, a jump of six per cent from the 2015 survey and above the national average of 89 per cent.

When asked to rank their care on a scale of zero (very poor) to 10 (very good), patients gave our Trust an average rating of 8.8, also an improvement on the 2015 score of 8.5, and above the national average of 8.7.

We’ve also seen improvements in several areas including; more patients felt they were given easy-to-understand information about their diagnosis (74 per cent, up eight per cent on 2015), being given enough privacy when discussing their treatment (86 per cent) and there was a 10 per cent increase in the number of patients who said they were given clear information on what to do post-discharge (84 per cent).

Our Chief Nurse Kathryn Halford said: “I’m really pleased with the results of this survey, and to see that once again that our patients are happier with the care they are receiving at our hospitals.

“Our patients are at the heart of everything we do, so we listen to their feedback which allows us to make the improvements they would like so we can ensure we are providing the best possible quality of care.

“Of course there are still areas where we know we need to improve. One area we’ll be looking at in particular is how we can provide additional support to our cancer patients. We’re working on this with our clinical nurse specialists and will put an action plan in place. We have already introduced an Information and Support Radiographer to give additional advice to our patients, and we hold virtual information sessions for our prostate cancer patients, giving them a 3D display of how their radiotherapy treatment will be delivered, to help them prepare for their procedure.”

The full survey is available online.