Cancer prehabilitation in Scotland: 2025 survey findings report

2. Background

This analysis reports on findings from a survey about cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation services which was undertaken by the SG on behalf of Scotland’s CPOG. The aim of the survey was to understand, from a staff perspective, what actions are needed to support the implementation of cancer prehabilitation across Scotland and reduce unwarranted variation.

Cancer prehabilitation is the process of preparing for cancer treatment and for life afterwards. The main goal of prehabilitation is to help people with cancer recover more quickly from surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and improve their long-term health. It specifically includes support and advice around exercise/activity, nutrition and psychological wellbeing, and should be integral to the care of all people with a cancer diagnosis to improve quality of life, maximise treatment rates and minimise the side effects of treatment.

Following the publication of the Cancer Strategy 2023 to 2033 and Cancer Action Plan 2023 to 2026, CPOG was convened to support the delivery of the strategy’s ambition that ‘Every person diagnosed with cancer in Scotland is provided with timely, effective and individualised care to best prepare them for treatment’. In December 2024, CPOG commissioned a survey to evaluate progress on Actions 47 – 51 in the Cancer Strategy, and to identify any future requirements for the second Cancer Action Plan.

The online survey was built on earlier surveys issued in 2019 and 2022. It similarly included open and closed questions, which focused on implementation of the Key Principles for Implementing Cancer Prehabilitation across Scotland, derived from guidance published in 2019 by Macmillan, National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA). It sought the views of prehabilitation staff on their awareness of prehabilitation principles, activities offered in their local area, and potential ways to improve local pathways to optimise patients for treatment. While referenced for comparison throughout the report, full results from the previous 2022 survey can be found on the SG website: Cancer prehabilitation survey: findings report.

For the purposes of the survey, the following definitions were provided to respondents:

Prehabilitation “constitutes nutrition, physical activity/exercise and psychological support and the associated interventions delivered before definitive cancer treatment. You may consider individual services or multi-modal programmes.”

Rehabilitation “constitutes nutrition, physical activity/exercise and psychological support and the associated interventions delivered after definitive cancer treatment. Rehabilitation is proactive and personalised.”