Macmillan responds to National Cancer Patient Experience Survey in England (CPES) data release

Steve Haines, Director of National System Change at Macmillan Cancer Support said:

“A cancer diagnosis is one of the toughest experiences many people will ever face. Everyone deserves the best possible care, and today’s data highlights how far there is to go to make this a reality.

“The National Cancer Plan for England set a bold ambition for improving quality of life for people with cancer, offering a universal right to a personalised needs assessment. But meeting that ambition is still a long way off – with only half of people receiving cancer treatment having a plan to support their wider needs and concerns.

“On top of this, too many people continue to experience unfair cancer care, with these challenges often greatest for those who already face additional barriers. People from ethnically diverse communities, people who are LGBTQ+, and those living with a disability or other long-term health conditions still face inequalities when it comes to diagnosis, treatment and the support they need and deserve.

“The UK Government must now turn its commitments into action and set out how we deliver the quality-of-life improvements everyone living with cancer urgently needs. The 2.8 million people living with cancer in England cannot afford for us to lose momentum.[i]”

• The Government’s National Cancer Plan committed to ensuring every person with cancer is offered a personalised needs assessment and a personal cancer plan,by 2026. Yet the 2025 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey for England shows that only half of people having cancer treatment (50%) are supported with a care plan to meet their needs or concerns, a figure unchanged from the previous two years (50%)[ii]
• More than one in four people who have an overnight stay in hospital as part of their cancer care in England (28%) are not always involved in decisions about their treatment or care – a figure also unchanged from the previous year[iii]
• One in four people having cancer treatment in England (24%) said their families or other people close to them were not given all the information they needed to help care for them at home[iv]
• The 2025 survey also shows that some groups of people with cancer in England are still significantly more likely to report poorer experiences of NHS care than others, particularly people who are from an ethnically diverse background, people who have a disability or another long-term health condition as well as cancer and people who are LGBTQ+[v].
• For example, Black and Asian people in England who are diagnosed with cancer after seeking help with symptoms are still substantially more likely to have to speak to a primary care professional three or more times before being diagnosed when compared with the national average (29% and 26%, respectively, compared with 18%). In the previous year’s survey, these figures were 26% and 27%, respectively, compared with 17%[vi]
• People who have a serious disability alongside their cancer (defined as another long-term condition that substantially affects their day-to-day activities) report a worse experience on all but one of the survey’s 59 questions[vii]
• The latest survey also shows that only around two in three patients who are lesbian or gay (67%) were always able to get help from hospital ward staff when needed, lower than the national average of 74%, while only 64% of patients who are bisexual get enough support with their overall needs while at hospital, compared to the national average of 77%[viii]. Previous research has shown that getting enough support with your overall needs is one of the top three most important aspects of people’s care that contribute to a good overall experience[ix] 

[i] Macmillan Cancer Support. Cancer prevalence. Accessed July 2026.

[ii] NHS England. 2025 National Cancer Patient Experience Survey. Accessed July 2026. Refers to question 25: ‘Has a member of the team looking after you helped you in creating a plan to address [your] needs or concerns?’ Out of 64,268 total responses to the survey, 32,043 respondents answered ‘Yes’ to this question.

[iii] As per ref 1. Refers to Q33: Did you feel you were involved in decisions about your care and treatment while you were in hospital? This question is only asked to people who had had an overnight stay in an NHS hospital within the previous 12 months. Out of the 25,855 people who had had an overnight stay, 5,755 answered ‘Yes, sometimes’ and 1,429 answered ‘No’

[iv] As per ref 1. Refers to question 49: ‘Did the team looking after you give your family, or someone close to you, the information they needed to help care for you at home?’ Out of 64,268 total responses to the survey, 7,908 answered ‘No’ to this question, and 7,813 answered ‘Yes, they were given some of the information they needed’. A further 27,918 people answered ‘Yes, they were given all the information they needed’

[v] As per ref 1. These groups of patients all report lower scores than the national average across a number of questions in the survey. Please note, the CPES data represents a proxy measure of disability that only applies to the other conditions people have in addition to their cancer, and is based on the extent of the impact of their long-term condition(s) (excluding cancer) on day-to-day activities.

[vi] As per ref 1. Refers to question 2: Before you were diagnosed, how many times did you speak to a healthcare professional at your GP practice about health problems caused by cancer? This question is only asked to people who had contacted their GP practice because they thought something might be wrong. For Black people with cancer, there were 726 responses to this question, of who 213 selected either ‘Three or four times’ or ‘Five or more times’. For Asian people with cancer, there were 1,282 responses to this question, of who 327 selected those answer options. At a national level, there were 37,440 responses to this question, of who 6,738 selected those answer options.

[vii] As per ref 1. Serious disability defined as responses selecting “A lot” to question 68: Do any of these reduce your ability to carry out day-to-day activities?

[viii] As per ref 1. Refers to question 28: Do you feel you got the right amount of support with your overall health and well being from hospital staff? For people identifying as bi-sexual, there were 244 responses to this question, of who 157 selected ‘Yes, definitely’. At a national level, there were 62,890 responses to this question, of who 48,125 selected ‘Yes, definitely’ And question 34: Could you get help from staff on the ward when you needed it? For people identifying Lesbian or Gay, there were 265 responses to this question, of who selected ‘Yes, always’. At a national level, there were 25,794 responses to this question, of who 18,760 selected ‘Yes, always’.

[ix] Picker/NHS England. England National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2022. Key driver analysis for a high rating of care. May 2024 https://www.ncpes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CPES22_Key-Drivers_final-27032024.pdf. The top three key drivers are: Administration of care was ‘very good’ or ‘good’, Patient definitely got the right level of support for their overall health and well-being from hospital staff and the whole care team worked well together.