Children and young people are well cared for at hospitals run by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT), according to a national survey.
The national Children and Young People Survey 2024, carried out by Picker, has revealed that children and parents who attended the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) and Furness General Hospital (FGH) in Barrow scored the Trust at 98% overall for the quality of care they experienced.
This survey is usually carried out nationally every two years, however it has not taken place since 2020. Questions were scored on a scale from 0 to 10.
UHMBT achieved many scores at nearly 100%. Some of the highlights from the scores given by parents and carers are below:
- 100% - Parent felt they could be with their child as much as they wanted
- 99% Parent felt staff provided clear information about their child's care and treatment
- 99% Parent sufficiently understood the information given to them about caring for their child after leaving the hospital
- 98% of Parent felt hospital room or ward was clean
- 98% Parent had staff members introduce themselves to their child
- 98% Parent felt staff adequately explained operations and procedures beforehand
- 98% Parent felt child was looked after in hospital
- 98% Parent or carer was treated with kindness and compassion by the staff
- 97% Parent felt staff was available when their child needed attention
- 97% Parent felt that their child was given enough privacy while receiving care and treatment
- 97% Parent felt that they could ask staff questions about their child's care and treatment
- 97% Parent or carer was treated with dignity and respect by the staff.
Children gave the following positive feedback with many responses well above 95%:
- 100% - Child felt the staff sufficiently explained operations or procedures beforehand
- 98% - Child felt they were given sufficient privacy when receiving care and treatment
- 98% Child felt the staff tried to help them with their fears and worries
- 98% - Child felt the staff were friendly when they were looking after them
- 96% - Child felt staff did everything they could to help manage any pain
- 96% - Child felt the staff talked to them in a way they understood
- 95% - Child felt the ward to be suitable for someone their age.
The top five scores versus the Picker Average were as follows:
- Child felt the staff took time to listen to their fears and worries - 97% for UHMBT compared to the Picker average of 92%
- Child was able to get hospital food outside of mealtime - 94% compared to 75%
- Parent felt staff attempted to provide distractions to the child during operations and procedures - 92% compared to 86%
- Child felt there was enough choice of hospital food - 87% compared to 79%
- Parent felt that wi-fi was good enough for their child to do what they wanted - 87% compared to 81%.
Key areas for improvement included:
- 85% - When they left the hospital, child felt they knew what was going to happen next with their care and treatment
- 83% - Staff informed the child whom to talk to if they had any worries when they got home
- 72% - Parent felt there was enough hospital food choices for their child
- 70% - Parent felt staff provided written information about caring for their child at home
- 57% - Parent felt that staff played with their child.
Tabetha Darmon, Chief Nursing Officer, UHMBT, said: “It is great to see that children and parents felt well-looked after during their time in our hospitals, and we are thankful to everyone who provided feedback.
“Our results demonstrate that our young patients, and their families and carers, feel they are receiving safe, compassionate, kind and caring services. This is due to the skill, dedication and unstinting work of colleagues in our Women and Children’s Services.
“The survey shows some areas in which we can improve and we will be looking into those more closely to ensure the experience for young people using our service is the best it can be for them and their parents and carers.”
For more information, and to read the survey results in full, visit the CQC website.