28 February 2013
Young patients and their families in Jersey who use hospital inpatient services at the General Hospital are being well cared for compared to UK NHS trusts, an independent survey has found.
Parents, children, and young people who have used Robin Ward and Day Surgery Unit were surveyed by the Picker Institute Europe, which compares healthcare services. Jersey's services were benchmarked against 14 UK NHS trusts who provide similar care and facilities.
It was the first children’s Picker survey carried out for the Health and Social Services Department (HSS) and 328 questionnaires were sent out with a 47% response rate. The survey was divided into sections about:
- the ward itself
- the attitudes of doctors and nurses to the child patient
- going into hospital
- the care of the child in hospital
- facilities on offer for parents and carers
- pain management
- operations
- discharge from hospital
- comments from children and young people about planning services for the future
Score
Based on the feedback from young people and their families in Jersey, the Picker Institute found that that - compared to other children’s wards - Robin Ward and Day Surgery Unit scored higher than average and had ‘the best score’ in a number of areas.
Overall the survey showed that 97% of children aged 8 - 16 years and 99% of parents who responded, rated their hospital stay as excellent, very good or good.
The survey highlighted that the hospital is getting it right in a number of areas including:
- parents expressing confidence and trust in doctors treating their children, and were respectful towards children, young people and their parents
- confidence and trust in nursing staff who were praised for their attitude working with children and young people, involvement of parents in decision making and giving clear explanations about how they were going to be looked after while they were in hospital, thus reducing anxieties
- pain relief
- ward cleanliness
Improvement
There were some areas of improvement identified for Robin Ward, where the ward scored lower than average, relating to the ward environment, such as a lack of shower facilities for parents and the general ward environment.
While parents felt involved, feedback from children and young people showed that they wanted to have their operations better explained to them, more fully, both before and after the procedure. Another area identified was a lack of provision for hot meals for parents to buy on the premises.
Elaine Torrance, divisional lead for care of women and children, said "Overall, we were extremely pleased with the feedback received from both parents and children in the Picker Survey. As the survey is independent, it is very encouraging to see what we’re getting right."
Feedback
"We were pleased with the feedback received, both from children and young people who completed the survey, and from parents. We are delighted that the parents who responded to the survey were pleased with the care given to their child or teenager. It is also important that we take note of the small amount of feedback we had which was not so positive and see what we can do to change this. We are always pleased to have comments, and examine how we can continue to improve the service we offer to all our young patients and their families."
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