Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2018: national report

8. Hospital Care

Summary

• Respondents were very positive about their experiences of hospital care – 93 per cent were always called by their preferred name, 91 per cent were always given enough privacy during discussions, and 95 per cent were told who to contact if they were worried after they left hospital.
• People were also very positive about their experiences of person-centred care whilst in hospital. They were most positive about being listened to and having their condition and treatment discussed with them in a way they could understand, with both statements rated positively by 94 per cent of people.

Experience in Hospital

All respondents would have experienced care in hospital as part of their cancer journey and receiving good quality care whilst in hospital can help cancer patients to feel that they are viewed as more than their cancer diagnosis. Respondents were asked about their experience the last time that they received hospital treatment for their cancer. This may have been as an inpatient or an outpatient / day case. In the 2015 survey, respondents were asked similar questions but specifically about their inpatient care and so these questions are not comparable to 2015.

Most people (93 per cent) reported that all healthcare professionals caring for them called them by their preferred name. Six per cent of people reported that only some healthcare professionals called them by their preferred name, and one per cent said that none of them did.

Around nine in ten people (91 per cent) were always given enough privacy when discussing their condition or treatment. Eight per cent were sometimes given enough privacy and one per cent reported that they were not given enough privacy when discussing their condition or treatment.

The vast majority of respondents (95 per cent) were told by a healthcare professional who to contact if they were worried about their condition or treatment after they left hospital.

Figure 8.1: Proportion of positive responses to questions on hospital care

Person-centred Care

The survey asked individuals whether they agreed or disagreed with six statements relating to person-centred behaviours they experienced during their hospital care. As shown in Figure 8.2, respondents were positive about their experience of person-centred care, with all statements rated positively by more than four in five people.

The most positively rated statements were ‘They listened to me if I had any questions or concerns’ and ‘They discussed my condition and treatment with me in a way I could understand’, which were both rated positively by 94 per cent of people.

The statements with the lowest positive responses were ‘They helped me feel in control of my treatment / care’ and ‘They gave me the opportunity to involve the people that matter to me’, however both these statements were still rated positively by 82 and 86 per cent of respondents respectively. It should also be noted that both these statements had a higher proportion of neutral responses than the other statements.

Figure 8.2: Responses to person-centred statements – Hospital Care

* Note: The statement in the survey read as “They talked in front of me as if I wasn’t there” and so the per cent positive figure for this statement is the percentage of respondents who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement.