Cancer Reform Strategy - NHS Cancer Screening Programmes

82 CANCER REFORM STRATEGYMeasurement of patients’experience of care5.70 As we place a new emphasis on thequality of experience reported by people withcancer, it will be important that we are able tomeasure progress, tracking improvements in thequalitative as well as quantitative aspects ofcancer care.5.71 Large scale surveys of cancer patientsundertaken in 2000 and in 2004 by theDepartment of Health and the National AuditOffice demonstrated considerable improvementsin relation to several aspects of patientexperience. However, the 2004 survey alsodemonstrated that much more needed to bedone. Prostate cancer patients continued toreport a worse experience of care than thosewith breast, bowel and lung cancers andpatients’ experience of services in Londonremained less positive than elsewhere.5.72 These large scale surveys demonstrate thatcancer patients are prepared to completedetailed questionnaires which provide valuablesnapshots about the experience of patients withdifferent types of cancer and in different partsof the country. The surveys have not, however,been major drivers of local service improvement,probably because there was little or no sense oflocal ownership of the process. In addition, littledirection and support was given in how thefindings could be used locally.5.73 We therefore want to collect regularinformation on patients’ experience and usethis information locally to drive serviceimprovements. A new NHS Cancer PatientExperience Survey Programme will beestablished and surveys will be conductedannually. To take this forward an expertgroup, including patients, will be convenedto design the technical specifications.A national contract will then be let forthe collection, management and analysisof cancer patient experience surveys.This initiative will take full account of theDepartment of Health strategy review ofcustomer experience information, which is beingundertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers and willbe published in early 2008. The expert groupwill also consider the value of surveying carersof cancer patients.Figure 9: Improvement in Patients’ Reports of their care between 2000 – 20042000 2004Patients waiting less than one month to be seen by a specialist 70% 80%(irrespective of whether they were referred urgently)Patients receiving written information at the time of diagnosis 45% 61%Patients finding explanations of what was wrong with them very easy to understand 62% 68%Patients fully understanding the purpose of the treatment 82% 86%Patients who were given completely understandable explanations about side effects 63% 76%Patients who were always treated with dignity and respect 79% 87%Patients reporting that there were always enough doctors on duty 80% 84%Patients reporting that there were always enough nurses on duty 75% 81%Patients reporting confidence and trust in all of their doctors 87% 88%Patients reporting confidence and trust in all of their nurses 79% 81%Patients reporting that staff had done everything they could to relieve pain 81% 85%Patients reporting a lot of confidence in the doctor seen at their most recentoutpatient visit 68% 84%