Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2024: technical report

Background

The Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey (SCPES) asks people across Scotland about their experience of cancer care. The survey is jointly funded by the Scottish Government and Macmillan Cancer Support. The survey is run in partnership by the Scottish Government, Macmillan Cancer Support and Public Health Scotland (PHS). The Scottish Government, Macmillan Cancer Support and Public Health Scotland are involved in the planning and organisation of the survey. The Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland analysed the survey responses and produced the survey publication and associated materials. A survey contractor, IQVIA, was appointed to administer the survey fieldwork.

The SCPES is one of a suite of national surveys which are part of the Scottish Care Experience Survey Programme. The surveys aim to provide local and national information on the quality of health and care services from the perspective of those using them. They allow local health and care providers to compare with other areas of Scotland and to track progress in improving the experiences of people using their services. Information about the other national care experience surveys is available at the Health and Social Care Analysis collections page.

The Care Experience Survey Programme supports three strategic objectives for both the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland – that care be safe, effective and person centred. It does this by providing a basis for the measurement of quality as experienced by people across Scotland.

In addition, the programme supports the Chief Medical Officer’s vision that, by 2025, we will support the Health and Social Care workforce to practice Realistic Medicine, thereby enabling the delivery of high quality and personalised care to the people of Scotland.

This is the third iteration of SCPES, with previous surveys run in 2015 and 2018.

The Cancer Action Plan for Scotland 2023-2026 outlines the following actions associated with SCPES:

• Action 96: Complete the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey (SCPES), working with Macmillan Cancer Support.
• Action 97: Work with Macmillan alongside other third sector organisations and Health Boards to determine any new actions required to improve the experience of people diagnosed with cancer and how best to measure this.

SCPES and these associated actions will support and measure progress towards Ambition 7 as set out in the Cancer Strategy for Scotland 2023-2033:

• Our 10-year vision is that people with cancer are at the heart of all decisions and actions involving them. They are given the opportunity to co-design their own care plan, and information including a treatment summary is readily available. A single point of contact is at the centre of this. Where possible, diagnostic tests and treatment are situated close to home and travel to specialist care is fully supported, making use of the continued advancement in new technologies.

Survey results, including the National Report and spreadsheets containing detailed results from the survey can be found on the Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey webpage. An interactive dashboard has been developed by PHS.