worth reading (for everyone): Exploring experiences of cancer care in Wales (gyn cancer patients included)

open access:
Exploring experiences of cancer care in Wales: a thematic analysis of free-text responses to the 2013 Wales Cancer Patient Experience Survey (WCPES)

Navigate This Article

• Top
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
  • Study design
  • Cohort identification
  • Questionnaire and design content
  • Survey process
  • Ethics and governance
• Analysis
• Findings
  • Communication
    • Communication between patients and staff
    • Communication between staff and/or institutions
  • Waiting during the treatment and post-treatment phase
    • Waiting on the day
  • Staffing and resource levels
    • Availability of aftercare
    • General comments about staffing levels (nursing and medical staff)
    • Availability and quality of staff on hospital wards at evening and weekends
    • Availability of specialist nursing staff
  • Speed and quality of diagnostic care
    • GP role in diagnosis
    • Investigations and diagnostic services
• Discussion
• Study limitations
• Future research
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Footnotes
• References

 Conclusion

This study has illustrated the value of free-text analysis for exploring patient experiences of cancer care, and for complementing and extending findings from closed questions. As the first systematic analysis of free-text data from a national sample of experiences of patients with cancer, it has presented specific areas of concern for patients with cancer, as well as areas of good practice, and revealed themes present across the cancer journey. The volume of comments within specific themes, as well as ratios of negative-to-positive comments, indicate areas of potential concern. Our work on the WCPES has also highlighted an area of potential significance with regard to the reliability of survey data at greater levels of specificity (ie, the site level). These findings have been discussed in the context of existing issues in cancer care, and in doing so have presented areas of specific attention for policymakers and further research.