KGH children's ward rated highly by families

Families were asked for feedback on issues such as privacy on the ward, cleanliness, the friendliness of staff, how well staff answered questions and pain management.

Parents rated their overall experience of the Skylark ward as eight out of 10 in the findings of the 2016 Children and Young People Inpatient and Day Case Survey, published by the Care Quality Commission.

The hospital received 229 responses to the survey, which rated the hospital’s inpatient and day case facilities in the Skylark ward.

The findings show that families’ experiences on the ward were generally good, with scores generally the same as other trusts across the country.

Families gave the Skylark ward nine out of 10 in 13 keys areas including privacy, discussing care, answering questions, and explaining operations in a way children understood.

It was scored significantly ‘better’ than average on one question - 9.1 out of 10 for having a ward suitable for a person’s age.

The ward scored more than eight out of 10 in 27 areas including cleanliness, having enough things for children to do, staff making themselves understood and being able to talk about worries with staff.

It scored less than eight out of 10 in 22 areas but most of these scores were rated ‘about the same’ as other trusts.

In three areas the trust was significantly worse scoring than other trusts – ‘did people looking after you listen to you?’, ‘did staff communicate with your child in a way they understood?’ and for being given written information to take home with them.

The hospital scored ‘worse’ compared to other trusts in two other areas – 8.5 out of 10 for ‘the people looking after you were friendly’ and 8.2 out of 10 for staff introducing themselves to children.

However, the trust also scored 9.3 out of 10 for another question on friendliness – ‘do you feel that the people looking after you were friendly?’

Kettering General Hospital’s director of nursing and quality Leanne Hackshall said: “Overall the survey shows that families rate Skylark Ward highly and think it is friendly and caring with approachable, engaging and informative staff.

“They also said our facilities were clean, well-designed and purpose-built for children and young people.

“We are looking carefully at areas where we can further improve and have drawn themes from the survey – alongside other ways we judge the patient experience such as the Friends and Family Test questions, NHS Choices and front line comments.”

Head of nursing for children’s services Simon Hardcastle said: “Some of the practical improvements we are planning include developing better patient information leaflets.

“This will include working with our hospital play specialists to produce child friendly versions.”