Listening to patients, involving them in our plans for cancer care and learning from their feedback and ideas is really important to us. It helps us to make sure we deliver the right care in the right way and to learn from what our patients tell us works well and what we can improve.

Our approach to this is set out in our patient experience, engagement, inclusion and involvement commitment 2022-2025.

Our commitment: Patient experience, engagement, inclusion and involvement 2022-2025

Our commitment to patient experience, engagement, inclusion and involvement was developed and co-produced with patients, their families, carers, members of the public and staff. 

Working together, we can realise our mission as a leading cancer centre to:

Drive improved outcomes and experience through our unique network of specialist cancer care across Cheshire and Merseyside

PDF file icon Download Our Commitment: Patient experience, engagement, inclusion and involvement 2022-2025

Patient experience is about how the process of receiving care feels for the patient, their family and carers. We want every patient to have a positive experience of care. 

Our patient experience commitment is in line with our mission, the core themes of our overall Five Year Strategic Plan 2021-2025 and, importantly, our Trust values. It was developed through workshops with a wide range of representatives and some key themes emerged.

People said they wanted us to:

  • Give patients a leading voice: Inclusion and diversity – Give all patients & carers who represent the communities we serve, including those ‘underserved groups, opportunities to give feedback and be involved.
  • Listen and learn: communication and clarity of information – Provide clear, understandable information at all times. Learn from each other and those with lived experiences to make things better.
  • Confidence and trust: People will feel confident under the care we provide, feel heard and that what we hear is used to inform developments and make shared decisions.
  • Access: simplicity and efficiency – Processes for involving patients will be simple, accessible and efficient.
  • Effectiveness: impact and value – Publicise the actions we have taken following patient feedback and involvement, and this information will be in formats accessible to everyone.

Our commitment makes the following four promises in relation to patient experience, engagement, inclusion and involvement:

We will listen, hear and act

We want to make sure you feel confident and safe under our care. We aim to offer clear and simple ways for everyone to give feedback and to be involved when they want to be.

Collecting your feedback

We will continue to collect your feedback in different ways to suit your needs.

Reporting your feedback

We will work with patient and carer representatives to streamline our committees, in line with feedback we receive.

Acting on your feedback

We will publish regular reports and action plans. And we will use ‘You said we heard’ displays on the department TV screens and noticeboards to keep you informed of local issues.

Personalising your feedback

We will provide individually tailored support for everyone who has concerns.

We will communicate clearly in ways you can understand and demonstrate that hearing is happening

We will do the following:

  • Communicate with everyone in clear language in a way that is appropriate to that individual.
  • Minimise the use of medical terms, jargon and abbreviations.
  • Use a range of communication methods, including electronic methods such as email and through social media.
  • Always learn lessons from your feedback and share best practice.
  • Use your experiences to guide our decision‑making committees.
  • Share reports and action plans in a range of ways to make them easily accessible.
  • Make sure information about patient experience is available immediately.
  • Make sure patient experience is discussed by healthcare professionals and departments every day.
  • Monitor the responses and action plans developed by healthcare professionals and departments.
  • Improve partnership working between healthcare professionals, patients and carers on all service, research, development and digital changes.

We will act upon your feedback, involvement and engagement demonstrating that what matters to you matters to us

We will do the following:

  • Simplify access to all our systems and processes to make it easier for you to get involved.
  • Review the role volunteers play and aim to increase the number of volunteers.
  • Increase the involvement of a broad range of people, representing the communities that we serve.
  • Provide support and training for people interested in helping us to shape our services, research, commitment and governance.
  • Give everyone a say and allow them to play an active role in developing our aims and visions for the future.

We will give patients a leading voice and all continue to lead equally together on the development of innovative ways to improve, involve and engage with you

We will do the following:

  • Make sure patient involvement is central to the culture at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
  • Identify and develop new ways to learn from the feedback we are given.
  • Lead the way in providing support and training to enable high-quality patient feedback and involvement - for example, improvement toolkits, mentoring, coaching, seminars and workshops.
  • Monitor and maintain the effectiveness of all patient feedback and involvement.