Published on : 10 July 20214 min reading time

Macmillan Cancer Support have used results from the Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2011/12 to find the ten best and worst performing Hospitals. An analysis of responses to the the Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2011/12 shows that nine of the ten least satisfactory NHS Hospital Trusts fall within the London Strategic Health Authority (SHA).

Macmillan Cancer Support ranked Trusts according to their patients’ responses to questions in the 2011/12 survey, the results of which were published on 17 August, and listed the ten best- and worst-performing hospitals according to the number of times they fell within the top and bottom 20% of all Trust.

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust fared worst, falling in the bottom 20% for responses to 56 of the questions used in Macmillan’s analysis, and in top quintile just once.

Whipps Cross University Hospital and King’s College Hospital were ranked second and third worst respectively, completing an all-London SHA bottom three.

The highest scoring Trust was Harrogate & District NHS Foundation Trust, which appeared in the top quintile for 55 questions, and was never in the bottom 20%. South Tyneside scored second highest, and Papworth Hospital third.

Macmillan also used their ranking system to find the ten Trusts making the biggest improvement between 2010 and 2011.

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust fared best, having seen its ranking improve for responses to 20 separate questions, without falling in any other areas.

Guy’s & Thomas’ also saw increased scores in 20 areas, but patient satisfaction fell for one question. Tameside Hospital was the third best according to Macmillan’s system, with 17 improved scores and no falls.

The results of the Cancer Patient Experience Survey themselves showed an upward trend in satisfaction, and 97% of the 71,793 respondents indicated that, overall, their care was either excellent (54%), very good (34%) or good (9%).

A number of areas requiring improvement were also highlighted. 38% of patients with cancer of the brain or central nervous system (CNS) were not referred to a cancer specialist until after three or more visits to their GP.

This was compounded by the fact that just 61% of brain and CNS cancer patients said their health either improved or stayed the same while they waited for their first hospital appointment – the lowest proportion across all cancer types named in the survey.

The lowest scoring question was that of whether or not patients had been offered a written assessment and care plan, with just 24% indicating that they had.

The breadth and quality of information given to patients regarding their cancer type and any operations required varied considerably between cancers.

50% of patients with sarcoma indicated they had been given written information about their type of cancer, compared to 78% for prostate cancer patients.

Patients with prostate (93%) and breast cancer (92%) said they had received written information about their operation, whereas brain and CNS patients (56%) and those with sarcoma (55%) gave the lowest scores.
CPES age comprehension Younger patients felt they were not able to understand explanations of what was wrong Illustration : Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2011/12

Disparities between age groups and ethnicities were also evident. Cancer patients aged 16-25 were shown to be the least likely to have understood the explanation given to them of what was wrong, and comprehension rates rose with each older age group.
CPES financial help More younger patients than older patients said they were informed about financial help Illustration : Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2011/12

The opposite was true of financial help, however, with a higher proportion of 16-25-year-old patients indicating that they were given information on how to get financial help than of any other age group.
CPES ethnicity 2 Differences in response acording to respondent’s ethnicity Illustration : Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2011/12