Care of cancer patients by East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has again been highly praised in a national survey of patients who were diagnosed with the disease.
The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey, now in its eighth year, was completed by over 500 local patients. They were asked to rate their care overall on a scale of 1 to 10. Patients in East Sussex rated their care as 8.8 out of 10.
Cancer care for Haematology and Lung patients scored particularly well with scores above the national averages. Out of the 59 areas looked at by the survey, the Trust scored above the national average in five areas.
Patients were particularly complimentary about the care that they received from our Clinical Nurse Specialists, with ease of access and having all their contact details being highlighted. Patients were particularly complimentary about the levels of information that they were given and the timeliness of it.
Joe Chadwick-Bell, Deputy Chief Executive, said: “We were pleased to note the positive responses to this survey. It was gratifying that so many of our patients took the time to respond. In fact the average response rate was much higher in East Sussex than it was nationally so I would like to thank those patients who completed the survey. These findings will help us improve our services to patients in the future. The report illustrates the excellent work being done by our multi-disciplinary teams and our chemotherapy units to care for cancer patients in East Sussex. As always we will be reflecting on the areas where further improvements can be made. Particularly in talking to our patients about how they can engage with research projects and clinical trials. I would like to congratulate colleagues from all disciplines who work so tirelessly for the benefit of cancer patients, some of those will be well known to patients but there are many others who work behind the scenes who also contribute enormously to the care of our patients.”
The National Cancer Patient Survey has been carried out by the Department of Health for the last eight years. The surveys concentrated on patients diagnosed during a two month period in 2018 who received treatment at either Conquest Hospital or Eastbourne DGH.