National survey helps highlight improvements in care for cancer patients at Nottingham University Hospitals | Latest news

The latest National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, carried out in September 2022, has highlighted that patients at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust feel involved in decisions about their care and feel they are getting the right level of support.  

Patients also fed back that when finding out they had cancer, they felt well informed about the fact they could have a family member, carer or friend with them and that family members could be involved as much as the patient wanted them to be in decisions about their treatment options.

The survey was carried out on behalf of NHS England and was designed to monitor national progress on cancer care to provide information to drive local quality improvements, assist commissioners and providers of cancer care and to inform the work of the various charities and stakeholders groups supporting cancer patients.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust scored above the national average for seven of the key questions.

A total of 499 patients responded to the survey, giving a response rate of 54%, which was above the national average of 53%.  
 

The survey showed that cancer services at NUH scored:

• 86% for diagnostic tests (above the national average of 83%)
• 79% for patients finding out they had cancer (above the national average of 76%)
• 57% for deciding on the best treatment (above the national average of 52%)
• 93% for support from hospital staff (above the national average of 90%)
• 79% for patients getting the right level of support for their overall health and wellbeing (above the national average of 76%)
• 74% for hospital care (above the national average of 70%)
• 69% for ensuring patients were always able to discuss worries and fears with hospital staff (above the national average of 64%).

The survey saw that, nationally, people treated for cancer in England were generally positive about their experiences of care in hospital, but results also showed that care can lack personalisation and that there are gaps in the wider support for people with cancer outside of hospital.

Belinda Dring, Divisional Nurse for Cancer and Associated Specialities Division at NUH said: “It is pleasing that we have seen an improvement in key areas of support from hospital staff including signposting patients to financial help and health and wellbeing support.

“We do acknowledge that there is more to do and that there are areas which can be improved, including providing patients with information regarding support available whilst they are at home, including community and voluntary services. We have improved this, but we are keen to improve further. 

“There is ongoing work to improve personalised care for our patients and whilst NUH is still within the expected range for this, we would like to progress improvements in the year ahead.

“We also acknowledge that the survey does not include significant insight into the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic patients. Improvement actions will include further engagement with a local BAME patient group, Sistas Against Cancer across all the tumor sites.” 

The full results of the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2022 can be found here - Statistics » Cancer Patient Experience Survey (england.nhs.uk)