OUH Under 16 cancer patient experience survey results released

The national Under 16 Cancer Patient Experience Survey which aims to find out about cancer and tumour care in England recently published its 2021 results. The survey, led by NHS England started in 2020, and it was run by healthcare research charity Picker. It captures the experiences of children aged between 0 to 15 years at the time of their care and discharge. 

OUH received sixty-two responses. Over eighty percent of children reported that they were well looked after for their cancer or tumour by healthcare staff; and ninety percent of parents rated the overall experience of their children’s care as eight or more out of ten. Eighty percent of children reported that they were able to understand what they were being told about their care, and nearly two-thirds of parents indicated that they were informed about their child’s cancer diagnosis in a sensitive way.

The results also showed that OUH was praised for delivering compassionate care, providing emotional support, good working systems amongst teams, being supportive and providing a caring environment for parents. Some areas were highlighted for improvement such as finding more activities for children to do while in the hospital and delivering information in a sensitive and appropriate manner.

Sam Foster, Chief Nursing Officer at OUH said: "This patient experience survey is an invaluable opportunity for us to hear the views of our young patients. I’m really pleased that the majority of young people felt that they were well looked after – we want to learn from all feedback, celebrate excellence and continue to improve. One of our key areas for improvement is the very important area of communication with patients and their parents in respect to diagnoses and plans for care and treatment.  We look forward to testing a range of ideas to make improvements in this area which will contribute towards our aim of delivering excellent and compassionate care."

Dr Amrana Qureshi, Paediatric Haematology Consultant and Clinical Lead at OUH said: "We would like to thank the patients who took the time to respond to the survey and we are grateful about all comments about care. We are always interested to hear where improvements can be made about information sharing between hospitals to further streamline care, and clearer information for families. There are practical problems families face around travel, food choices and overnight accommodation. All these issues raised are also reflected nationally and we work towards improving the experience for our patients and their families."