Imperial NHS Healthcare Trust worst in country for cancer patient experience says cancer charity
150 posts also said to go this year as Trust makes £44 million saving in pay expenditure
The Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust has been ranked as the worst in the country in cancer patients’ experiences.
The findings come from a Macmillan Cancer Support league table, based on research carried out by the Department of Health between January and March in 2010, and follows news that the Trust faces a budget shortfall of £40m next year.
Patients who were surveyed rated the Trust poorly in particular for the support they received while being treated, how much information they were given on their disease as well as the number of medics on duty and said they had little confidence in staff.
The league table assessed criteria such as the number of nurses on duty, the amount of support given to patients after leaving hospital and financial information given. It does not cover the medical treatments received, such as standards of chemotherapy or surgery.
The Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, Ciarán Devane, issued a statement saying, “Cancer patients are being let down by many Trusts that are failing to give adequate levels of care. The experiences you have whilst in hospital can have a massive impact on your health and wellbeing and how well you cope once you leave hospital. We hope that the Trusts given a red card will work with community services and take urgent action to improve the care they offer cancer patients.”
The Trust have said that improvements have been made since the period when the survey was taken. A spokesperson acknowledged that some of their cancer care at the time of the survey “was below the standard we strive to deliver”. However, they said the Trust had listened to patient feedback and a number of improvement programmes have been implemented, including improving the provision of information for patients and investing in a new chemotherapy suite and young persons’ cancer unit.
It has further emerged in the past week the Trust plans to cut ‘pay expenditure by £44m, or 8%, and cut 150 posts this year’. The investigation by the Nursing Times shows the pressure of government cuts on hospital budgets. A Trust spokeperson said: “We intend to achieve these savings by first reducing our substantial bank and agency numbers and by natural turnover and redeployment of staff into areas of growth.
“As outlined in our annual plan, we expect to selectively reduce substantive staff numbers by around 150 over the year.”
The latest report by the Care Quality Commission, the government’s independent healthcare watchdog, found their patient experience quality to be ‘slightly less than the national average’. However, The Trust were rated highly in meeting cancer waiting time targets and preventing and controlling hospital acquired infections, as well as being well above the national average in ensuring that no cancer patients wait longer than one month from diagnosis of cancer to the beginning of treatment.
Macmillan have said that they will work with hospitals that performed poorly in their league to help them improve patient experience.
