A WATCHDOG group says more needs to be done to improve care and treatment at Oxfordshire’s major hospitals.

The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals in Oxford and The Horton in Banbury – was rated “much the same” in a national survey as trusts across Britain in all the main areas, including doctors, care and treatment and leaving hospital.

But the chairman of watchdog Patient Voice has raised concerns that not enough people were being asked about their treatment.

The trust received an overall rating of 6.5 out of 10 in the Care Quality Commission inpatient survey.

But it only scored 1.1 out of 10 from patients for the way it asks for their opinions, although was given 9.5 for patients not wanting to complain.

Jacquie Pearce-Gervis, chairman of Patient Voice, said: “Overall, the results seem satisfactory. Things could have got worse but it looks like they haven’t. It’s a mixed bag.

“But there is concern that not all patients are being asked for their views, which is the only way you are ever going to get an accurate picture.

“I have heard from quite a lot of people that they simply weren’t asked, and this survey reflects that.”

A questionnaire was sent to 850 recent patients at each trust across the UK at the end of last year.

Responses were received from 410 patients treated at ORH hospitals.

Overall, doctors at the trust were rated as 8.6 and nurses 8.5 out of 10. When asked about whether they felt respect and dignity during their stay, patients rated the trust as 9.1.

But it only scored 2.6 for choice of admission dates and 5.1 for quality of food – a cause highlighted by a disgruntled patient in a recent Channel 4 TV documentary.

Mrs Pearce-Gervis added: “We should emphasise the good points.

“But there is more to do for the trust in a number of areas.”

Last month, the Oxford Mail reported that a staff survey found nearly two-thirds of consultants and more than half the nurses at the trust’s hospitals said they had seen potentially harmful errors or near-misses at work.

The results put the trust in the bottom fifth of 147 trusts in the country in 11 out of 38 categories, including numbers suffering work-related stress and the availability of hand-washing materials.

No-one from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust was available for comment.

  • For details of the report, click on the link below.