Trust’s young patients make their views heard

Oxford University Hospitals was the highest scoring trust in a national survey for children and young patients in a number of the questions asked.

Two of the categories in which the Trust came top were: involving parents and carers in decisions about a child's treatment and taking a child’s individual needs into account.

OUH also came top for explaining what would happen to a child while in hospital, and giving them information about their care. 247 of our patients, aged 0-15, were included in the National Children and Young People's Inpatient and Day Case Survey, with the views of parents and carers sought as well as those of children old enough to offer their own.

Patients and carers were asked to answer each question with a rating on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being 'I had a very poor experience of care' and 10 being 'I had a very good experience of care'.

Children and young people rated OUH highest for the friendliness of our staff, feeling safe and having enough to keep them occupied. They also liked the hospital food!

There were some areas where young patients and their families felt that OUH 'could do better'.

Young patients felt that they would like more information to take home with them, and teenagers waiting for operations would have liked more things to do.

With parents and carers, Oxford University Hospitals scored above average for 34 questions, but below average in six, such as a choice of admission dates and information offered to patients when they go home.

The Trust's Chief Nurse, Catherine Stoddart, said: "We hugely value feedback like this from all our patients; it is great to know what our patients think we do well, and important for us to know what areas our patients think we need to improve. We'll be looking in detail at the findings to see how we can further improve our young people's experience in hospital."