Patient experience in Northumberland and North Tyneside hospitals remains among the very best nationally
Inpatients at hospitals run by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust have reported ‘better than expected’ care for the fifth year in a row.
The trust, which runs the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in Cramlington, Hexham, Wansbeck and North Tyneside general hospitals, has once again been highlighted in a national ‘positive outliers’ report.
The report forms part of the Care Quality Commission’s latest adult inpatient survey. It summarises the experiences of more than 58,000 patients who used NHS adult inpatient services during November 2025.
Northumbria Healthcare – which also runs community hospitals in Alnwick, Berwick, Blyth and Haltwhistle – performed ‘better than expected’ because those responding positively to questions about their care ‘was significantly higher than the trust average’.
The outliers report highlighted 12 trusts that performed better or much better than expected. Northumbria was one of only two general acute trusts, alongside regional neighbour Gateshead Health, with the others being specialist trusts.
Dr Birju Bartoli, the trust’s chief executive, said: “Providing a good experience for our inpatients is a real team effort, with clinical and non-clinical teams working together to deliver high-quality patient care.
“While we continue to focus on how we can deliver more care in the community and in people’s own homes, there remains a critical need for excellent care within our hospitals.
“The principles that drive strong patient care and experience are the same regardless of the location – putting the patient first, ensuring we meet their needs and making sure we respond to and learn from any feedback.”
Of the 12 survey sections, Northumbria’s responses were better than most trusts in 10 of them, with the other two being ‘about the same’.
Questions which scored particularly strongly included those about patients having trust and confidence in the doctors and nurses treating them, plus being treated with kindness, compassion and dignity.
Monitoring patient experience is a constant process at Northumbria Healthcare through its extensive real-time programme.
It forms the bedrock of the trust’s commitment to constant improvement, ensuring it can stay reactive and responsive to the needs of the communities it serves in Northumberland and North Tyneside.