Positive patient feedback for North Cumbria’s hospitals

Patient feedback gathered at North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust demonstrates that the majority of patients are very satisfied with the care provided by Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle and West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.

The latest feedback shows that the trust is in the top 20 per cent of all trusts for various areas in both outpatient and inpatient services, according to a Patient Perspective survey. For Emergency Departments, the trust averages inside the top 20 per nationally.

It also show that the trust scored an average of 96 per cent in the Friends and Family Test (FFT) for patients who would recommend inpatients/day care, outpatients, emergency care and maternity to their loved ones.

For Children and Young People’s services, FFT results show that 98.4 per cent of patients would recommend services at the Cumberland Infirmary, and 100 per cent at the West Cumberland Hospital.

Over 1,000 comments were left in the comment boxes, with 84 per cent positive ones for the Cumberland Infirmary and 92 per cent positive for the West Cumberland Hospital.

The trust scored an average of 9.5 out of 10 for the ‘Real Time Face to Face’ score, which is based on face-to-face interviews, and the trust’s dementia patient experience survey saw 92 per cent positive comments for dementia service at the Cumberland Infirmary, and 100 per cent at West Cumberland Hospital.

On the NHS Choices website, the star ratings have remained 4 out of 5 for The Cumberland Infirmary and 2.5 out of 5 for West Cumberland Hospital.

The trust has also been working hard to improve response times when patients do raise concerns. 100 per cent of complaint investigations have been completed within the 30-day target, and this rate has been maintained since September 2016.

Georgia Wright, head of nursing for patient experience at the trust, said: “These are very promising and positive results, and it is thanks to the hard work and commitment our staff show across both of our hospital sites.

“Our extensive patient experience programme allows us to collect real-time information about many aspects of patient care, giving us the opportunity to quickly rectify any issues which may arise as well as allowing us to continuously strive to improve our services.”