Cancer patients praise care at Royal Surrey

The Royal Surrey has been praised for overall quality of care by cancer patients in the 2010 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey.

Patients ranked the Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in the top 20% of Trusts participating in the survey in a number of categories:

• Patients given choice of treatment
• Patients given written information about side effects
• Patient involvement in treatment decisions
• About the right amount of time was spent with the clinical nurse specialist
• Hospital staff give information to patients about support groups
• Patients usually get understandable answers to important questions
• Patients found doctors knowledgeable about how to treat their cancer
• Patients always given enough privacy when being examined or treated
• Families given all the information needed to help provide care for the patient at home
• Staff do everything they can to help control pain
• Patients given the right amount of information about their condition and treatment
• Patients feel like they are treated as individuals,  not as ‘a set of cancer symptoms’

95% of patients said that they were always given enough privacy when being examined or treated and 86% of patients said that hospital staff provided information about support groups.  97% of patients said that the last time they saw their clinical nurse specialist it was for the right amount of time and 92% agreed that they were listened to carefully when they last saw them.

The survey also revealed that patients with breast and prostate tumours consistently highly rated their care and treatment at The Royal Surrey.

This survey was carried out between 1^st January and 30^th March 2010, by the National Cancer Patient Experience Programme. It is one of the largest surveys of cancer patient experience and is part of the Cancer Reform Strategy, launched by the Department of Health in 2007.