Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2024: national report

Introduction

This report shows the results of the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2024. Where applicable, we compare data with results from previous rounds of the survey run in 2018 and 2015.

The survey was sent to a sample of people aged 16 or over with an inpatient or day case record with any mention of cancer and a discharge date between 1^st October 2022 and 30^th June 2023.

To confirm the diagnosis of cancer, and to minimise the risk of sending surveys to patients who did not have cancer, the sample was validated using the Scottish Cancer Registry. Individuals who were identified from the hospital records, but did not have a confirmed Scottish Cancer Registry diagnosis date between 1^st April 2022 and 31^st December 2022 were excluded from the sample (more information on the survey methodology is available in the Technical Report).

4,540 people responded to the survey.

The survey asked about people’s experience of cancer care and treatment. This report includes:

• The statistical analysis of survey responses
• A qualitative analysis of free text survey responses.

A thematic analysis of the free-text comments has been included in the report for the first time. This is in response to user demand for insights from the free-text comments to complement, support and provide context to the quantitative analysis of results.

Throughout this report, the survey results are presented as weighted average percentages. Weighting the results provides results which are more representative of the population of Scotland as a whole. The weights adjust for survey non-response and are stratified by cancer type, age group and sex.

Not all results are comparable with the 2018 or 2015 rounds of the survey. This could be because new questions are added at each survey round, or existing questions are reworded for greater clarity. All changes over time that are discussed in the report are statistically significant at the 5% level. If changes are not statistically significant, we say that the percentages are similar or the same.

Context

The Cancer Patient Experience survey is part of the Care Experience Survey Programme. The programme supports three strategic objectives for both the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland – that care is safe, effective and person centred.

This survey is also one of the sources to monitor progress against the Scottish Government’s Cancer Strategy 2023 to 2033, specifically:

• Improved experience of services, across all areas of care.
• Optimised quality of life for each individual.
• Embedded research, innovation and data capture in all services.

The strategic overall intent for the Government for the period 2023 to 2033 is to improve cancer survival and provide excellent, equitably accessible care.

The Cancer Patient Experience survey is funded by the Scottish Government and Macmillan Cancer Support. The Scottish Government works in partnership with Public Health Scotland to collect, analyse and publish the data. Stakeholders from the Scottish Cancer Coalition are involved in the survey design and the recruitment of patients to test and improve the survey material.

Outputs

In this report, we show the survey results at a national level.

Links to other outputs of the survey are available on the Cancer Patient Experience Survey collection page and include:

• An excel spreadsheet showing results at national level and broken down by Health Board of Treatment, Health Board of Residence, Cancer Group, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, 6-fold Urban Rural Classification, Sex and Age Group.
• An excel spreadsheet with data used for the charts and tables in this report.
• A technical report with details of the survey design and methodology.
• An excel spreadsheet with data used for the charts and tables in the technical report.

An interactive dashboard has been developed by Public Health Scotland. The dashboard shows the survey results at local level, by cancer group and time trends and includes:

• Results by organisation / area of residence of the respondent at the time of treatment.
• Results by cancer group.

A copy of the 2023/24 Cancer Patient Experience survey questionnaire is available online, together with other survey materials.

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

This report also includes new thematic analysis of the free-text comments. This is not a statistical analysis, but we have applied the Code of Practice for Statistics pillars of trustworthiness, quality and value to it. More information on the thematic analysis is available in the technical report.

More information about Scottish Government statistics is available on the Scottish Government website.