OUH performs well in national cancer patient experience survey

Cancer patients have rated the level of care received at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as nine out of 10 for the fourth year in row.

The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (NCPES) 2024, conducted every year by Picker on behalf of NHS England, aims to understand patients' experiences of cancer care, and the results are used to improve the quality of NHS cancer services.

The survey asks a variety of questions about people's experience of care, including how involved patients felt in decisions about their care, whether the information they were given was easy to understand, and whether they felt they had enough support from staff.

More than 1,500 patients across different types of cancer categories, such as breast, prostate and haematological, had their say and completed the questionnaire about their OUH cancer care and experience.

OUH had 10 questions that scored 'above the expected range', including how patients:

• Are treated with dignity and respect,
• Felt that the length of time waiting for diagnostic test results was about right,
• Receive the relevant information at various stages of their treatment,
• And are made aware of cancer research opportunities.

The Trust had no scores rated as 'below the expected range'. Two scores were 'significantly higher’ than the 2023 score – none were ‘significantly lower’.

Patients gave a rating of nine out of 10 for overall experience of care, which OUH has achieved across the last four surveys and is about average when compared to the national results.

Hannah Ball, Acting Lead Cancer Nurse at OUH, said: “We are proud that our patients continue to rate their experience of cancer care at OUH so highly. Achieving these positive results and delivering compassionate excellence is a testament to the dedication of our teams.

“We also recognise the importance of continuous improvement and will be reviewing the results and developing an action plan to ensure we keep delivering the best possible care.”

Andrew Carter, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer at OUH, said: “These results reflect the hard work and commitment of our staff across all cancer services. It’s particularly encouraging to see that patients feel respected, well-informed, and supported throughout their care journey.

“We will continue to listen to our patients and use their feedback – both positive and constructive – to enhance our services even further.”

Each tumour site receives its own set of patient comments and survey results, enabling teams to develop tailored local action plans that address specific areas for improvement. In some cases, teams also share their findings with patient support groups to gather further feedback. These local plans are used to shape a Trust-wide action plan, ensuring that improvements are informed by both patient and staff insight.

OUH’s results can be seen on the NCPES website.

Nationally, overall NHS care (8.89/10 in 2023 to 8.94 in 2024) and administration of care (89.9% to 90.4%) improved slightly.