Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2018: technical report

6. Survey Response

Overview

The response rate for the survey is the number of forms returned as a percentage of the number of people in the sample once those considered ineligible have been removed. Ineligible people were those who had died between the sample being finalised and receiving any of the survey letters, had moved address or had informed the helpline they were ineligible for another reason. 

There were two respondents who declined to participate in the survey and requested that their personal details be deleted by Quality Health Ltd. Whilst these individuals personal information was deleted by the survey contractor as per their request, they are still included in the population totals used in this survey as they were eligible to be sampled.

Of the 8,302 people in the final sample, 8,090 were considered eligible. A total of 5,001 surveys were returned completed, giving an overall response rate of 62 per cent – one percentage point higher than the response rate for 2015 (61 per cent).

This section describes the differences in response rates by a range of variables. 

Response Rate by Age Group^[5] 

The response rate increased with age, from 31 per cent for those aged between 16 and 34, to 71 per cent for those aged between 65 and 74 (Table 5). It then dropped back to 62 per cent for those in the oldest age group, 75 and above.

Table 5: Response rate by age group

Age Group	Number of eligible people sampled	Number of Responses	Response rate (%)
16 to 34	189	59	31
35 to 44	384	172	45
45 to 54	1,062	551	52
55 to 64	1,954	1,205	62
65 to 74	2,528	1,789	71
75 +	1,973	1,225	62
Scotland	8,090	5,001	62

Response Rate by Sex^[6] 

As shown in Table 6, response rates for males and females were similar (63 and 61 per cent respectively). 

Table 6: Response rate by sex

Gender	Number of eligible people sampled	Number of Responses	Response rate (%)
Male	3,646	2,285	63
Female	4,444	2,716	61
Scotland	8,090	5,001	62

Response Rates for NHS Boards

Looking at NHS Boards with more than 50 respondents, response rates by NHS Board of Treatment ranged from 55 per cent in NHS Lanarkshire to 70 per cent in NHS Highland (Table 7). 

Table 7: Response rate by NHS Board of Treatment

NHS Board of Treatment	Number of eligible people sampled	Number of Responses	Response rate (%)
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	462	304	66
NHS Borders	124	84	68
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	117	79	68
NHS Fife	326	197	60
NHS Forth Valley	239	138	58
NHS Grampian	895	609	68
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	2,626	1,537	59
NHS Highland	343	239	70
NHS Lanarkshire	568	310	55
NHS Lothian	1,567	985	63
NHS Orkney	*	*	60
NHS Shetland	*	*	70
NHS Tayside	615	390	63
NHS Western Isles	*	*	100
Golden Jubilee	161	97	60

Note:  The number of forms sent out and the number of responses have been suppressed, ‘*’, for NHS Boards with fewer than 50 respondents.

Response Rate by Deprivation

Respondents were assigned to a deprivation quintile based on their home postcode at the time of their treatment using the 2016 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD)^[7]. As in other Care Experience surveys, the response rate was lower for more deprived areas, ranging from 51 per cent for people living in the most deprived areas to 68 per cent for people living in the least deprived areas (Table 8).

Table 8: Response rate by deprivation quintile

SIMD Quintile	Number of eligible people sampled	Number of Responses	Response rate (%)
1 (Most deprived)	1,523	772	51
2	1,565	931	59
3	1,663	1,058	64
4	1,712	1,137	66
5 (Least deprived)	1,626	1,102	68
Scotland	8,090	5,001	62

Note:  The Scotland figure includes one individual whose SIMD quintile is unknown and so the columns will not sum to the Scotland totals.

Response Rate by Urban / Rural Location

Respondents were assigned to an Urban / Rural category based on their home postcode at the time of their treatment using the 2013/14 Six-fold Urban / Rural classification^[8]. The response rates ranged from 58 per cent for people living in large urban areas, to 71 per cent for people living in remote rural areas (Table 9).

Table 9: Response rate by urban / rural category

Urban / Rural Category	Number of eligible people sampled	Number of Responses	Response rate (%)
Large urban areas	2,624	1,517	58
Other urban areas	2,789	1,685	60
Accessible small towns	795	508	64
Remote small towns	278	181	65
Accessible rural	1,018	691	68
Remote rural	585	418	71
Scotland	8,090	5,001	62

Note:  The Scotland figure includes one individual whose Urban / Rural category is unknown and so the columns will not sum to the Scotland totals.

Response Rates by Tumour Group

Response rate by tumour group ranged from 44 per cent for those with another tumour type, to 67 per cent for those with prostate cancer (Table 10).

Table 10: Response rate by Tumour Group

NHS Board of Treatment	Number of eligible people sampled	Number of Responses	Response rate (%)
Breast	1,862	1,210	65
Colorectal / Lower Gastrointestinal	1,201	748	62
Gynaecological	698	418	60
Haematological	795	494	62
Head and Neck	511	301	59
Lung	574	326	57
Prostate	1,035	694	67
Skin	267	158	59
Upper Gastrointestinal	326	193	59
Urological	642	381	59
Other	179	78	44
Scotland	8,090	5,001	62

Note:  The ‘Other’ category includes all tumour groups with fewer than 50 respondents (Brain / Central Nervous System, Sarcoma, Other) and respondents for whom a tumour group is not known.

Method of Response

Of the 5,001 respondents, 85 per cent sent their surveys back by post with almost all of the rest completing the survey online. Fifty-three people completed their survey via the telephone (Table 11). This pattern is broadly in line with that seen in the 2015 survey.

Table 11: Response by method

Method	Number of questionnaires completed	Questionnaires completed (%)
Online	675	13
Post	4,273	85
Telephone helpline	53	1
Language line	0	0
Scotland	5,001	100