Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2018: free-text analysis

2. Introduction

Results from the quantitative analysis of the 2018 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey (SCPES)^[2], indicated that patients were generally very positive about their experience of cancer care services. The vast majority of people (95 per cent) rated their overall experience of cancer care positively, and 97 per cent of respondents reported that they were always treated with dignity and respect by health care professionals treating them.

Greater understanding of patients' experiences can be gained by analysing responses to the survey's free-text comment boxes. The free-text comments provide deeper insight into aspects of care which can strongly affect the experiences of patients undergoing cancer treatment. Analysis of qualitative responses can also provide invaluable details about particular features of a patient's cancer care and shed light on areas affecting people with specific circumstances. A comment box was included at the end of each section of the questionnaire, allowing participants the opportunity to comment on each individual stage of their cancer diagnosis and care. 

This is the second time a qualitative analysis of a Cancer Patient Experience Survey has been conducted in Scotland^[3]. This report follows a similar thematic analysis and has been based on the main themes explored in the 2015 Scottish Cancer Patient Experience Survey, although the number and wording of individual free-text questions differed between the two reports.