The care of young people and children at the Princess Alexandra Hospital has improved, a survey conducted by the Care Quality Commission suggests.

The Harlow NHS trust has exceeded its previous ratings in the Children and Young People's Patient Experience Survey 2018, which involved three separate questionnaires for different age groups, filled out by the child or a parent or carer during February to June this year.

More than 50 questions were asked, focusing on the ward environment and facilities, the approach of staff, pain management as well as the procedures and operations.

At Princess Alexandra, 170 children and young people took part in the survey and significant improvements could be seen in the response to question 'were you given any written information (such as leaflets) about your child's condition or treatment to take home with you?', which rose from 6.2 out of ten in 2016, to 8.2 in 2018 and 'overall, how well do you think you were looked after in hospital?', which rose from 8.6 in 2016 to 9.5 this time.

The results were better than the majority of other trusts for six questions, according to the hospital.

Questions 'did the hospital staff answer your questions?','do you feel that the people looking after you were friendly?' and 'before the operations or procedures, did hospital staff explain to you what would be done?' all received ratings above 9.5.

Fiona Lodge, head of children's services and nursing at the hospital, said: "We are proud that we have continued to improve the experience children and young people have in our hospital.

"It is testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams that we have built upon the results of previous years through reviewing patient feedback and implementing changes, such as revising leaflets in consultation with parents; including documentation around consultation with families in our ward rounds; and a new display board for children's pictures."

The hospital achieved equal results to other trusts for 52 questions and none of the results were lower than other trusts surveyed nationally.

The survey was targeted to those who were discharged in November and December 2018.