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National survey recognises positive hospital experience of children and young people in Northumberland

The experiences of children and young people and their families at a Northumberland hospital are among the best in country, according to the latest national survey.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has today (Thursday, May 22) published the results of its children and young people's survey 2024. This looks at the experiences of children, young people and their parents and carers attending hospitals across the country.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington, was one of 9 trusts out of 120 whose results were either ‘better than expected’ or ‘much better than expected’.

It was one of just 4 general acute trusts on that list, alongside regional neighbours South Tyneside and Sunderland, and South Tees, with the other 5 being specialist trusts.

Dr Jonny Cardwell, consultant paediatrician and business unit director for child health at Northumbria Healthcare, said: “We have worked hard in recent years across our services for children and young people to make sure we collect good feedback, then use it to make improvements that enhance patient experience.

“It is great to have these efforts backed by the results of this survey and I would like to thank the teams once again for their hard work to provide this high-quality care for our patients.

“We want to continue improving and, going forward, we want to involve more children and young people in helping to co-design our services to make sure they meet their needs.”

The survey is based on the experiences of 25,821 children aged between 0 and 15, who were admitted to hospital during March, April and May 2024. This includes responses from 12,917 children and young people aged 8 to 15, who had the opportunity to give feedback directly about their care.

Questions in the survey cover the waiting area, the hospital ward, communication with staff, being looked after in hospital, hospital food and facilities, pain management, operations and procedures, and leaving hospital.

Responses were received from 245 people at Northumbria Healthcare, and areas where the trust performed better than expected include leaving hospital (8 to 15-year-olds) and parent/carer views on the ward, communication with staff, and being looked after in hospital.