Patients rate cancer care at Guy's and St Thomas'

88% of cancer patients treated at Guy’s and St Thomas’ rate their care as excellent or very good, according to the national cancer patient experience survey published on Friday 30 August - this is in line with the national average.

The survey reports the views of 116,000 cancer patients in all 155 NHS trusts in England that provide treatment to patients with cancer.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is ranked in the top 20% of NHS trusts nationally for seven areas of cancer care including providing information for patients about the side effects of treatment, support groups, cancer research, family support, and supporting patients to look after themselves when they return home from hospital.

Chief Nurse Eileen Sills says: “Although the vast majority of our cancer patients rate their care as excellent or very good, we want every patient to have an excellent experience and we recognise that we have a number of areas for improvement.

“We have plans in place to ensure we always communicate a diagnosis sensitively to patients, provide the emotional support that patients and their families need, and work as a team with our community nursing staff, for example.”

Construction work is now underway to build a brand new £160 million Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital to bring together the majority of cancer services and research under one roof – services are currently located in a number of different locations at both Guy’s and St Thomas’.

The new centre, which has been designed with the full involvement of patients, will improve patients’ pathways of care by bringing together cancer services in one place.

The state-of-the-art building is being designed following the involvement of patients sharing their experiences and helping to design the facilities in which their treatment is provided.

Guy’s and St Thomas’ is a member of the London Cancer Alliance (LCA), the integrated cancer system across south and west London that works in partnership with 17 NHS organisations to provide integrated cancer patient pathways and drive improvements in the patient experience.

Claire Dowling, LCA Programme Director, said: “The LCA is working tirelessly with its partner organisations to drive the transformation of cancer services in London and to deliver quality improvements that must be sustainable and long term.”

Read the full survey results.