Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2018: national report

10. Overall Experience

Summary

• The vast majority of people (95 per cent) rated their overall experience of cancer care positively, supported by 97 per cent reporting they were always treated with dignity and respect by healthcare professionals treating them.
• Around seven in ten people (69 per cent) found it easy to travel to their cancer care appointments and just over half of respondents (53 per cent) experienced no difficulties with their travel. The most common difficulties experienced were length of travel time and cost of travel / parking (experienced by 25 and 18 per cent of people respectively).
• Most people (92 per cent) reported they were able to bring someone to their appointments when they wanted to all or most of the time.
• Three in ten people (30 per cent) were given a care plan and half of people (51 per cent) were given a written note of all the treatments they received.

Travelling to Appointments

The survey asked respondents a number of questions relating to travelling to appointments related to their cancer care. Around seven in ten people (69 per cent) found it, overall, very or quite easy to travel to appointments (Figure 10.1). Fifteen per cent thought it was neither easy nor difficult and 17 per cent reported that they found it quite or very difficult to travel to their cancer care appointments overall.

Figure 10.1: Ease of travelling to cancer care appointments overall

Respondents were then asked to select which difficulties they had experienced when travelling to appointments from a list, they could select as many options as applied. Just over half of people (53 per cent) reported that they had not experienced any difficulties when travelling to their appointments relating to their cancer care.

As shown in Table 2, the most common difficulties experienced were length of travel time and cost of travel or parking, which were experienced by 25 and 18 per cent of respondents respectively. Difficulties relating to lack of information and cost of accommodation were least common, with them only being experiences by one and two per cent of people respectively.

Table 10.1: Difficulties experienced when travelling to cancer care appointments^[16]

	%
Length of travel time	25
Cost of travel or parking	18
Frequency of travel	12
Access to suitable transport	6
Too unwell to travel	5
Cost of accommodation	2
Lack of information	1
Another difficulty	5
No difficulties experienced	53

The survey then asked whether respondents had been able to bring a family member, friend or someone else to their appointments to support them when they wanted to. The majority of people (92 per cent) reported that they were able to bring someone when they wanted to all or most of the time (Figure 10.2). Five per cent of people were able to bring someone some of the time; one per cent could not bring someone with them when they wanted because of difficulties with travel or cost; and two per cent could not bring someone for another reason.

Figure 10.2: Able to bring someone for support when they wanted to

Coordination of Care

A care plan is an agreed plan between an individual and their health or social care professionals which sets out the individual’s needs and goals for caring for his or her cancer. This document is received after diagnosis and may include what treatment has been planned for them and the emotional, practical and financial support they will receive.

Additional analysis of the 2015 SCPES results^[17] demonstrated the positive influence the presence of a care plan can have on an individual’s experiences of cancer care. Those who did not have a care plan were significantly more negative for 45 out of 47 questions from the 2015 survey analysed.

Three in ten people (30 per cent) reported that they had been given a care plan (Figure 10.3). Around three in five people (61 per cent) had not been given one and around one in ten people (9 per cent) responded that they did not know or understand what a care plan was.

In 2015, 22 per cent of respondents had been given a care plan, with 12 per cent reporting that they did not know or understand what a care plan is. As part of the questionnaire review carried out ahead of the 2018 survey, the explanation of a care plan provided to respondents was expanded to provide examples of the kind of content it might include. It is therefore not possible to directly compare the results as it is not known whether the increase from 2015 is a real increase in those receiving a care plan; an increase in respondents understanding what a care plan is; or both.

Figure 10.3: Whether respondents had been given a care plan

As shown in Figure 10.4, half of respondents (51 per cent) reported that they had been given a written note of all of the treatments they had received to treat their cancer. Fourteen per cent had received a written note for some of their treatments and 36 per cent had not been given a written note of their treatments.

Figure 10.4: Whether respondents had been given a written note of their treatments

Respondents were asked whether the different people caring for them, such as their GP Practice, hospital staff, specialist nurses, community nurses etc., worked well together to give them the best possible care. The majority of respondents (91 per cent) felt that those caring for them worked well together all or most of the time which is consistent with results from 2015. Seven per cent of people felt those caring for them worked well together some of the time and two per cent reported they never worked well together.

Overall Experience

When asked to rate their overall cancer care on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is very poor and 10 is very good, the vast majority of respondents (95 per cent) rated their care positively (7 or higher) – an increase from 94 per cent in 2015. Half of respondents rated their overall care 10 out of 10 (Figure 10.6).

Figure 10.6: Overall rating of cancer care, on a scale from 0 to 10

The survey asked respondents to rate the overall communication around how long appointments relating to their cancer care would take. Eighty-five per cent rated the overall communication as very good or good. Twelve per cent rated it as neither good nor bad and three per cent of people rated it as quite bad or very bad.

Respondents were also asked to rate the overall administration of their care, for example getting letters at the right time, doctors having the right notes / test results, etc. Just over nine in ten people (91 per cent) rated this as very good or good, an increase from 90 per cent in 2015. Five per cent of people rated it as neither good nor bad and four per cent of people rated it as quite bad or very bad.

Almost all respondents (97 per cent) reported that they had, overall, been treated with dignity and respect by the healthcare professionals treating them for cancer always or most of the time. Two per cent reported that they were treated with dignity and respect sometimes and less than 0.5 per cent of respondents responded that they were not treated with dignity and respect.

Figure 10.5: Proportion responding positively to overall experience questions

Around one in five people (19 per cent) reported that, since their diagnosis, someone had discussed whether they would like to take part in cancer research (Figure 10.7). Around seven in ten people (71 per cent) responded that no one had discussed this with them and one in ten people (10 per cent) responded that no one had discussed this with them but they would have liked someone to.

Figure 10.7: Discussion with someone about whether they would like to take part in cancer research