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 how important quality of life is and the difference it makes to patients. The Cancer Quality of Life Survey helps us understand what matters most to patients. The information collected from the survey will help us to work out how best to support people living with and beyond cancer. This is the first survey to routinely measure quality of life outcomes in a way that influences health policy, professional practice and patient empowerment nationally.
Cancer patients receive the survey around 18 months after their diagnosis.
Results show us that people diagnosed with cancer rate their quality of life quite highly (74.3/100) but slightly below that of the general population (81.8/100). NHS England is working with Cancer Alliances to identify areas of support that can be put in place to help close this gap.
To view the full results visits www.cancerdata.nhs.uk/cancerqol or visit our Quality of Life Survey web page.
