Questionnaire development

The National Cancer Care Experience Survey Questionnaire

The National Cancer Care Experience Survey includes 60 questions. Most questions ask you to choose an answer from options provided. Two questions allow you to answer in your own words. The survey includes questions on finding out about receiving a cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, hospital care, communication, care and support from hospital staff, managing side effects and living with and beyond cancer.

The steps undertaken to develop the National Cancer Care Experience Survey questionnaire were:

A review of cancer care surveys from other countries was carried out to learn what works best when creating a national cancer care survey.
Focus groups were held with people with lived experience of cancer care, healthcare workers, support organisations, regulators, policy-makers and other groups. They helped to identify the most important topics to include.
A gap analysis was completed to make sure the survey included all important areas of cancer care in Ireland.
A Delphi Study was carried out, where experts and people involved in cancer care reviewed the survey questions and chose the most important ones to include in the questionnaire.
Picker Institute Europe reviewed the final questions to make sure they were clear and suitable for collecting good quality information.
Interviews with people with lived experience of cancer care were carried out to check how people understood the questions and make sure they were easy to answer.
The final questionnaire was presented to the NCEP Steering Group for approval in October 2025.