National survey of Urgent and Emergency Care reports improvements for The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust
The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust’s Urgent and Emergency Care Centre (UECC) has improved on its previous scores in a national survey, performing well in areas such as communication from doctors and nurses, and privacy provided to patients.
The Care Quality Commission’s (CQC’s) Urgent and Emergency Care Survey 2024 asked patients receiving urgent and emergency care during February 2024 about their experience.
A total of 120 trusts were surveyed, and there were a number of key areas in which TRFT scored highly in comparison to others. TRFT’s top scores included communicating with patients and families about test results, information upon arrival, information about support and care after leaving A&E, and privacy during examination and treatment.
Areas where the Trust scored less well than others were waiting, medication for recovery at home, pain management and food and drink.
Helen Dobson, Chief Nurse at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have been listening carefully to what patients have told us about the quality of their care at our Urgent and Emergency Care Centre and are pleased they are telling us things have improved.
“We know there is more work to do to improve things like waiting times and making sure we are taking into account our patients’ home situation before they are discharged. We continue to work hard with our healthcare partners to make sure these and every aspect of care gets better.
“We would like to thank our staff for their continued high standards of care and compassion during what has been, and continues to be, a very busy time. The scores are testament to the ongoing dedication, skill and hard work our incredible Urgent and Emergency Care colleagues provide 24 hours a day, 365 days of the of the year. I’d like to thank everyone who has worked to make our service better for our patients.”
Cindy Storer, Deputy Chief Nurse said: “Patients have told us they want to be kept informed about wait times so we have worked to implement a text messaging system which signposts patients to information about what is happening, and about their condition, while they wait. We have also developed the way we treat minor injuries and conditions that can be quickly treated so those patients can be promptly seen and discharged home.
“We are pleased our service scored positively and these results play a huge part in our ambitious plans for improvement, however there is always more to do. We have been working on responding to people’s pain promptly as a quality priority this year and have been supporting nursing staff with additional volunteers to offer patients food and drink. We listen carefully to all the feedback from our patients in this survey as well as by other means.”
To ensure ongoing improvement, the Trust’s Patient Engagement Team actively seeks feedback and involvement from patients, their relatives, members of the public, and particularly those with lived experience from less well heard groups, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
There are a number of ways to do this, including joining our Patient Panel. The team can be contacted by emailing rotherham.patientengagement@nhs.net or by calling 01709 425416.