Cancer patients have their say on our services

The results of the first ever National Cancer Patient Survey have been published.

The survey was carried out between 1 January and 31 March 2010 at all 158 acute hospital trusts in England that provide cancer services, including Chelsea and Westminster, in order to monitor national progress on cancer care.

Our results show that, while the survey demonstrates that there are areas of the patient pathway that we need to continue to focus on improving, overall patients have a high level of satisfaction with their care.

For example, patients reported high levels of satisfaction with the way in which the reasons for carrying out diagnostic tests were explained to them, with the opportunity for family members to talk to their doctor, and the level of confidence they had in the doctors treating them.

The experience of attending outpatient appointments was also reported positively with 83% of patients reporting they waited no longer than 30 minutes to be seen and 100% of patients reporting that the doctor they were seeing had all of their notes and correct documentation for the consultation.

One area that was scored particularly positively and that patients commented on time and again was the access, availability and support they received from their clinical nurse specialist.  Patients reported feeling listened to and that they got understandable answers to questions they felt were important all or most of the time.

Macmillan Lead Nurse and Cancer Manager Catherine Gillespie says: “This survey is a positive reflection of our cancer multi-disciplinary teams and how well they work together in the interests of the patients.

“However, we recognise that there are areas that we need to focus on in order to improve the experience of those patients with a cancer diagnosis in the Trust.”