The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey monitors patients’ self-reported satisfaction with each step of the cancer pathway in England, providing information to drive improvements in cancer care. The survey has been conducted annually since 2010.
Overall, most cancer patients in England report positive experiences of cancer care. However, patient experience varies along the cancer pathway, and by gender, ethnicity, age, deprivation, and cancer type. Satisfaction scores tend to be higher for experiences with Clinical Nurse Specialists and other hospital staff, and lower for experiences with GPs and general practice staff. Patients who report more positive experiences of cancer diagnosis and treatment tend to be male, white, older, and less deprived.
Patient experience of cancer diagnosis and treatment
Results from the Cancer Patient Experience Surveys
View our latest cancer statistics including key stats, in-depth explanations and raw data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, risk, and diagnosis and treatment.
View full A-Z cancer statisticsSee information and explanations on terminology used for statistics and reporting of cancer, and the methods used to calculate some of our statistics.
Go to local cancer statistics - search profiles by area, constituency or health board in the UK.
Go to devolved nations overview for an overview of Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
You are welcome to reuse this Cancer Research UK content for your own work. Credit us as authors by referencing Cancer Research UK as the primary source. Suggested styles are:
Web content: Cancer Research UK, full URL of the page, Accessed [month] [year].
Publications: Cancer Research UK ([year of publication]), Name of publication, Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when reused unaltered): Credit: Cancer Research UK.
Graphics (when recreated with differences): Based on a graphic created by Cancer Research UK.
When Cancer Research UK material is used for commercial reasons, we encourage a donation to our life-saving research. Send a cheque payable to Cancer Research UK to: Cancer Research UK, 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.
Donate onlineStay up to date by signing up to our cancer statistics and intelligence newsletter.
We are grateful to the many organisations across the UK which collect, analyse, and share the data which we use, and to the patients and public who consent for their data to be used.
Find out more about the sources which are essential for our statistics
Department of Health. National Cancer Patient Experience Survey Programme: 2016 National Survey Report.
