Scottish cancer patient experience survey 2015-2016: exploring differences in patient experiences

Executive Summary

Almost 5,000 people took part in the 2015 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey. It covered all aspects of the cancer care journey, from thinking that something might be wrong, through to the support received after acute care and treatment. National results revealed that the vast majority of people – 94 per cent – had a positive experience of cancer care overall. They also highlighted some areas of care with less positive experiences which require service improvement.

This secondary analysis examines the relationship between the self-reported experiences of service users and a range of factors. This analysis will help our understanding of the differences in cancer care experiences between different groups of patients and will assist in identifying where to target future improvements.

Responses to 47 of the survey questions were analysed to determine whether the likelihood of someone reporting a positive experience was affected by a range of factors – see Annex A for a summary of the results. Figure 1 shows the total number of questions associated with difference in experience by factor.

The key findings of this analysis are:

• Those who did not have an easily contactable Clinical Nurse Specialist ( CNS) were significantly more negative for all questions.
• Those who did not have a care plan were significantly more negative for 45 out of the 47 of questions analysed.
• Those whose cancer had remained or spread following treatment were significantly more negative for 28 out of the 47 questions analysed.
• Tumour group affected 25 out of the 47 questions analysed, however there was a fairly even mix of significantly more positive and significantly more negative depending on both the specific tumour group and question.

Figure 1: Total no. of questions (of the 47 questions analysed) associated with difference in experience by factor