Patients give Kettering General Hospital's A&E 8/10 in care experience survey

This is despite the department dealing with more than double the number of patients it was designed for when it opened 25 years ago.

The results come from the Care Quality Commission’s 2018 Urgent and Emergency Care Survey which looked at 132 hospital’s across the country with A&E departments.

The survey, published yesterday, was completed with 404 KGH patients aged over 16 who visited the trust’s A&E department in September 2018.

KGH's director of nursing and quality, Leanne Hackshall, said: “I think it is a tribute to our amazing staff that we are able to deliver an experience of care that is so good in facilities that we know are overcrowded and not well designed to meet our current workload.

“It also underlines the fact that it is the face-to-face human experience of care that is the most important thing to people rather than their surroundings.”

The survey asked people to rate their care with 36 questions about all aspects of their experience during their journey through A&E.

For 34 questions KGH scored ‘about the same' as other trusts.

The trust was better than most trusts for one question ‘Did a member of staff explain the purpose of the medications you were to take at home in a way you could understand?’

(9.5/10)

It was worse than most trusts for one question: ‘Were you given enough privacy when discussing your condition with the receptionist.” (6.6/10)

Head of nursing for urgent care, Ali Gamby, said: “Whilst there are constraints within our environment we have acted on the findings of the survey to improve the specific issues

raised.

“For example in the reception area patients waiting could overhear discussions between the nurse undertaking assessment of other patients - compromising privacy and dignity.

“We have addressed through the provision of a navigation room, where conversations between nurse and patient can be conducted privately.

“However we are very aware that our old department has many features which impact on the privacy and dignity experience and which could be better.

“For example our waiting area faces our clinical assessment room for patients with minor injuries and our majors department is in a temporary building with bays divided only by

curtains – which means conversations between patients and clinicians can be overheard.”

The hospital's chief operating officer Jo Fawcus said: “While we are pleased our patients have recognised they get a good overall experience of our clinical care we don’t

underestimate the impact our constrained facilities have.

“And that is why we are so delighted to hear today’s announcement by Health Minister Edward Argar that our bid to secure funding for our £46m Urgent Care Hub has been

successful.

“It is a recognition of the pressing need for us to develop improved urgent and emergency care facilities for North Northamptonshire.

“We had already expanded our A&E the department four times over the last six years and turned staff rooms and store rooms into clinical rooms and there was no room left within the

current A&E footprint for further expansion.

“We are very keen now to move on and finalise our Urgent Care Hub plans so that we can develop a one-stop-shop for urgent care locally with primary care, A&E and mental health

assessment facilities on the KGH site.

“This would address all of the clinical, crowding, and privacy and dignity issues that our A&E department currently faces.”