Patients continue to report positive experiences – amongst the best in the country – during a hospital stay with us.
The latest national adult inpatient survey has highlighted Newcastle Hospitals in the top 25% of performing trusts for overall experience.
The survey, published by the Care Quality Commission today, looks at the experiences of people (aged 16 and over) who stayed at the Freeman Hospital or Royal Victoria Infirmary for at least one night between January and April 2026.
It follows their journeys from admission, to treatment and discharge and addresses key themes such as staff interaction, patients feeling involved in their own care and kindness and compassion.
Responses were received by around a third of people (480) who were invited to take part in the survey and the results show the trust continued to perform well across multiple domains, including communication, dignity, and trust in clinical staff.
There were no questions where results had declined but our aim is to continuously improve based on feedback given and we will look at the report in detail to see where we can make improvements.
Key areas (rating out of 10 with a comparator against other trusts):
- Admission to hospital (including length of time on a waiting list, quality of information received while waiting and waiting to get a bed on a ward) – 7.8 – better than expected with improvement around quality of information shared with patients.
- The hospital and ward (noise from other patients and staff, lighting and room temperature, not prevented from sleeping, cleanliness) – 7.7 – about the same.
- Basic needs (helping to wash and keep clean, medication, help with eating, mealtimes, having enough to drink) – 8.1 – about the same.
- Doctors (answering questions, confidence and trust and involving patients in discussions around their care) – 9.2 – better than expected with improvement around doctors answering questions in a way which was understandable to patients.
- Nurses (answering questions, confident and trust, involving patients in discussions around their care and staffing numbers) – 8.7 – about the same.
- Care and treatment (communications, involvement in decisions / discussing concerns, privacy, pain control, getting help from staff) – 8.5 – about the same with a marked improvement in communication
- Individual needs (language, cultural, religious, accessibility, dietary, mental health) – 8.1 – about the same.
- Virtual wards (information about risks, benefits, care and treatment) – 7.2 – about the same
- Leaving hospital (involvement in decisions, equipment /adaptions in the home, notice of discharge, information and advice given, medicines and after care) – 7.4 – better than expected with improvements in notice of discharge, care after discharge (what would happen next and support available if needed) and clinical contact details being readily available if people were worried about their condition.
- Kindness and compassion – 9.1 – about the same.
- Respect and dignity – 9.2 – about the same.
- Overall experience – 8.4 – about the same.
Listening and learning
With support from Newcastle Hospitals Charity, a dedicated programme monitoring patient experience in real time is in place across Newcastle Hospitals, to further understand patients’ experience and help staff act at pace on patient feedback. It is the largest programme in the NHS receiving feedback from more than 100,000 people each year. The commitment is to use this information as an opportunity to listen, learn and improve.
Our thanks to individuals, patients and families who have generously shared their feedback with us. Your insights – drawn from experiences across our hospitals and community services – are invaluable in helping us to continuously improve.
You can find the full set of Newcastle Hospital results on the CQC website.
