Understanding the data and latest results
Quality of life means different things to different people, but it matters to everyone. More people are surviving cancer than ever before – but living with cancer, and the effects of its treatment, can have a negative impact on people’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing.
NHS England understands that quality of life outcomes are important to patients which is why they are running a nationwide Cancer Quality of Life Survey to help understand what matters to patients.
Launched in September 2020 the survey has now been rolled out to most cancer patients. This includes rarer and less survivable cancers, such as brain and other CNS cancers. Patients receive the survey around 18 months after their diagnosis. The information collected from the survey will help to work out how best to support people living with and beyond cancer.
This is an ambitious programme with a scale and depth that isn’t being matched anywhere else in the world. Although patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) that focus on quality of life are in use in parts of the NHS, and in clinical trials worldwide, the potential for PROMs to improve care and outcomes for people affected by cancer has not yet been realised. Only by monitoring quality of life, at a consistent assessment point with nationwide coverage, can data be made available to help improve care across the NHS.
The Quality of Life survey will routinely measure quality of life outcomes in a way that influences health policy, professional practice and patient empowerment.
Results show us that people diagnosed with cancer rate their quality of life quite highly (74.2/100) but slightly below that of the general population (90.1/100). NHS England is working with Cancer Alliances to identify areas of support that can be put in place to help close this gap.
We have also seen that people diagnosed with stage 1 cancer report higher quality of life (76.5/100) than those diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (69.2/100). This further reinforces the NHS Long Term Plan to diagnose cancer earlier and the Earlier Diagnosis Strategy to achieve this.
More information about the survey can be found on the survey website: www.CancerQoL.england.nhs.uk.
