Patients rate us one of the top hospitals in England for inpatient care
Posted 29th September 2022
Images above show ward staff celebrating the news and current inpatient Lisa Colledge with Dr Dan Monnery.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust has been rated one of the best hospitals in England for inpatient care for the third year running.
It was one of just nine hospital trusts nationally to achieve the top overall rating of ‘Much better than expected’ in the CCQ’s National Inpatient Survey 2021, published today. The survey involved 134 NHS organisations in England and was completed by 62,235 patients nationally who spent at least one night in hospital in November 2021.
This year was the first that all the responses related to the new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool which opened in June 2020. The 11-storey hospital in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter has 110 individual en-suite rooms where patients can receive highly-specialist cancer care including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy and stem cell transplants.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre achieved the best scores in the country on 10 of the questions:
- Time spent on a waiting list before admission
- Receiving information from hospital staff about your condition/treatment
- Being able to discuss your condition/treatment without being overheard
- Having enough privacy when being examined/treated
- The hospital doing enough to control your pain
- Hospital staff explaining how you might feel after treatment
- Getting enough information about what to do or not do after discharge
- Knowing before you left hospital what would happen next with your care
- The hospital doing enough to arrange social/community care
- Overall being treated with respect and dignity
Other particular areas of strength included patients feeling involved in decisions about their care, understanding the answers they got to any questions, feeling they could open up and speak to staff if they had any worries, and being able to have a peaceful night’s sleep.
In total, The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre scored ‘much better than expected’ on 21 of the survey questions, ‘better than expected’ on 15 questions and ‘somewhat better than expected’ on two questions. There were no areas where it performed worse than expected.
The results mirror feedback from people who have been inpatients in Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool in the last couple of months, including comments that “rooms are 100% private which is perfect for consultations”, there was “excellent communication between staff and patients, staff always available when needed and always happy to assist and help”, and “facilities in the rooms are excellent, especially the free TV”.
Lisa Colledge, 43, from Warrington, is being treated for tongue cancer and more recently spinal cord compression. She has been a patient at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for five years, with various inpatient stays. Her most recent stay has been three weeks on Ward 3 at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool. [Read her full quote at the end.]
Lisa said: “I had an emergency admission to A&E, and was admitted at that hospital for a couple of days but all I kept asking the staff there was “Can I go home?” I didn’t mean my house, I meant Clatterbridge. The staff feel like family, we laugh and joke and that makes the world of difference when you are scared and in pain. It helps lift your spirits. Whether it’s simply getting my bottle of water from the fridge, or reacting when I need pain relief – they are there straight away, and nothing is too much trouble.
“Staying here is more like a stay at a hotel, it’s always spotlessly clean, I have my own room with ensuite and TV, and a fantastic view over the city. It’s those little things and also the most important things I can rely on the staff for. It’s a massive team of great people, and I feel lucky to be treated by them.”
Julie Gray, Chief Nurse at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Making sure people on our wards feel comfortable, well cared for and have everything they need to aid their recovery is incredibly important to us. Many people with cancer have to spend a long time in hospital – those who have stem cell transplants may need up to eight weeks in isolation while their immune systems are rebuilding.
“We go to great efforts to make their stay as comfortable as possible and we really listen to the feedback we get so we can keep learning and improving. Our new hospital in Liverpool was designed with patients in mind and aims to provide as many home comforts as possible as well as excellent clinical care and wraparound support for their emotional wellbeing.
“It’s fantastic to be rated once again as one of the top hospitals in England but, as always, we will continue looking at how we can deliver even better care and an even better experience in the year ahead.”
If you would like to read the full published report, please find the link to the survey here: https://nhssurveys.org/all-files/02-adults-inpatients/05-benchmarks-reports/2021/
Staying here is more like a hotel
Lisa Colledge, 43, from Warrington, is being treated for tongue cancer and more recently spinal cord compression. She has been a patient at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for five years, with various inpatient stays. Her most recent stay has been three weeks on Ward 3 at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool.
She said:
“I had an emergency admission to A&E and was admitted at that hospital for a couple of days but all I kept asking the staff there was “Can I go home?” I didn’t mean my house, I meant Clatterbridge. The staff feel like family, we laugh and joke and that makes the world of difference when you are scared and in pain, it helps lift your spirits. Whether it’s simply getting my bottle of water from the fridge, or reacting when I need pain relief – they are there straight away, and nothing is too much trouble.
“Staying here is more like a stay at a hotel, it’s always spotlessly clean. I have my own room with ensuite and TV, and a fantastic view over the city. My family say the café is very nice but I’m not able to get downstairs to use it so I love it when the lady with the café trolley comes around every morning. Free parking for my family is a great help too, especially when I have such long stays on the ward.
“It’s those little things and also the most important things I can rely on the staff for. My memory is bad, and I don’t remember half of what I should, but the staff without fail repeat any important information they tell me to my husband it’s just one less thing to worry about.
“I’d like to give a special thanks to my nurse Bev who is simply amazing, not only with my cancer care but the other things that come with it. I had to fill in a benefit form the other day, something I’ve never had to do before, but Bev was there to provide the medication evidence I needed and the benefits advisor in the hospital helped with the rest. It’s a massive team of great people, and I feel lucky to be treated by them.”
