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Is a larger specialist nurse workforce in cancer care associated with better patient experience? Cross-sectional study

Is a larger specialist nurse workforce in cancer care associated with better patient experience? Cross-sectional study
Is a larger specialist nurse workforce in cancer care associated with better patient experience? Cross-sectional study
Objectives: To assess whether variation in the provision of cancer specialist nurses in England is associated with variation in positive experiences of care by patients undergoing treatment for cancer.

Design: Cross sectional study using routinely collected national survey data.

Setting: English acute hospital NHS trusts.

Participants: Patients with a primary diagnosis of cancer who attended hospital as an inpatient or outpatient day case in the first three months of 2010in 158 NHS trusts who responded to a national survey (n=67,713, response rate 67%).

Main Outcome Measures: Patient perceptions of coordination of care, quality of information provision, emotional support and support for symptom management.

Results: Patients of trusts that had the fewest patients per specialist nurse were more likely to report that people treating and caring for them worked well together (adjusted odds ratio 1.08, 95% Confidence Interval 1.01 - 1.15 p=0.02), and enough emotional support during ambulatory treatment (1.15, 1.01 - 1.32 p=0.04) but were no more likely to report being given the right amount of information (0.96, 0.88 –to 1.05 p=0.38) when compared to patients in trusts with the most patients per specialist nurse. Breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in the trusts with fewer patients per specialist nurse were more likely to report good support for control of side effects from chemotherapy (1.34, 1.02 to1.75, p=0.03).

Conclusions: Cancer patients’ experiences of care coordination and emotional support are better in trusts with more specialist nurses. The absolute differences are small and further research must investigate whether particular roles or service configurations are associated with better experience.
nurse specialist, workforce, cancer
1355-8196
39-46
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Simon, Michael
6e9ad30e-c22f-455a-945e-98d77dcec479
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Corner, Jessica
eddc9d69-aa12-4de5-8ab0-b20a6b5765fa
Griffiths, Peter
ac7afec1-7d72-4b83-b016-3a43e245265b
Simon, Michael
6e9ad30e-c22f-455a-945e-98d77dcec479
Richardson, Alison
3db30680-aa47-43a5-b54d-62d10ece17b7
Corner, Jessica
eddc9d69-aa12-4de5-8ab0-b20a6b5765fa

Griffiths, Peter, Simon, Michael, Richardson, Alison and Corner, Jessica (2013) Is a larger specialist nurse workforce in cancer care associated with better patient experience? Cross-sectional study. [in special issue: UK Health Services Research Network Annual Symposium 2012] Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 18 (S1), 39-46. (doi:10.1177/1355819612473451).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objectives: To assess whether variation in the provision of cancer specialist nurses in England is associated with variation in positive experiences of care by patients undergoing treatment for cancer.

Design: Cross sectional study using routinely collected national survey data.

Setting: English acute hospital NHS trusts.

Participants: Patients with a primary diagnosis of cancer who attended hospital as an inpatient or outpatient day case in the first three months of 2010in 158 NHS trusts who responded to a national survey (n=67,713, response rate 67%).

Main Outcome Measures: Patient perceptions of coordination of care, quality of information provision, emotional support and support for symptom management.

Results: Patients of trusts that had the fewest patients per specialist nurse were more likely to report that people treating and caring for them worked well together (adjusted odds ratio 1.08, 95% Confidence Interval 1.01 - 1.15 p=0.02), and enough emotional support during ambulatory treatment (1.15, 1.01 - 1.32 p=0.04) but were no more likely to report being given the right amount of information (0.96, 0.88 –to 1.05 p=0.38) when compared to patients in trusts with the most patients per specialist nurse. Breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy in the trusts with fewer patients per specialist nurse were more likely to report good support for control of side effects from chemotherapy (1.34, 1.02 to1.75, p=0.03).

Conclusions: Cancer patients’ experiences of care coordination and emotional support are better in trusts with more specialist nurses. The absolute differences are small and further research must investigate whether particular roles or service configurations are associated with better experience.

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More information

Published date: April 2013
Keywords: nurse specialist, workforce, cancer
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 350058
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/350058
ISSN: 1355-8196
PURE UUID: 45ab2326-334e-477b-bb06-c4e56af1a5c8
ORCID for Peter Griffiths: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2439-2857
ORCID for Alison Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3127-5755

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Date deposited: 19 Mar 2013 11:09
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:37

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Author: Peter Griffiths ORCID iD
Author: Michael Simon
Author: Jessica Corner

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