Cancer patients praise care they received at hospital (From Keighley News)

Cancer patients praise care they received at hospital

9:00am Saturday 25th August 2012 in News

More than nine out of ten cancer patients at Airedale Hospital rated the overall care they received as “excellent” or “very good”.

The 92 per cent figure is among the findings of an independent survey published by Quality Health.

The survey was carried out on behalf of the Department Of Health as part of the national cancer patient experience programme.

Adult patients with a primary diagnosis of cancer, admitted to Airedale Hospital as an inpatient or day case patient between September 1 and November 30, 2011, were asked for their views on different aspects of the care and treatment they received.

There were 278 respondents, a response rate of over 70 per cent.

The survey showed that Airedale NHS Foundation Trust was achieving mostly average or better than average performance compared to other hospitals.

Julie Livesey, lead cancer manager at the trust, said: “We are extremely pleased patients continue to rate us highly for the care they receive. In particular, our day patients and outpatients rated us in the top 20 per cent of trusts nationally.

“We have worked to improve our cancer patients’ experiences and were pleased to be rated in the top 20 per cent in other areas, for example explaining what would be done during tests as well as explaining what possible side effects could be and what the test results were.”

She added: “We are now focussing to improve in those areas where we have not been rated as highly, such as discussing with patients about taking part in cancer research.”

The survey, which involved 160 acute hospital NHS trusts providing cancer services, also found that 96 per cent of Airedale patients did not have their hospital admission dates changed.