A report released today by the Bureau of Health Information (BHI) provides new insights into people's experiences in outpatient cancer clinics across the state.
The report draws on the latest results of the Outpatient Cancer Clinics Survey, reflecting the experiences of more than 8,000 people who received care in 42 outpatient cancer facilities in NSW in November 2021.
"These results provide a rich source of information for health services that helps them continue to focus on improving experiences and outcomes of care," said BHI Chief Executive Dr Diane Watson.
"Reassuringly, patients were overwhelmingly positive about the care they received in outpatient cancer clinics, which it is important to remember was delivered while NSW continued to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic."
Almost all patients (98%) said, overall, the care they received was very good or good and more than eight in 10 (84%) said their care was very well organised.
On one key indicator of safe, high-quality care, almost eight in 10 patients (79%) said they were 'definitely' involved as much as they wanted to be in decisions about their care and treatment.
The report contains additional analyses examining the outpatient cancer clinic experiences of people who speak a language other than English at home, compared with those who speak English.
"We saw that survey respondents who speak a language other than English at home reported significantly less positive experiences across some key measures," Dr Watson said.
For example, the report shows that people who speak a language other than English at home were almost three times as likely to say they received conflicting information and were significantly less likely to say their care was very well organised (76%, compared with 85% of English speakers).
To learn more about the delivery of virtual care, which has continued to expand during the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey also asked patients about their experiences of virtual care appointments (over the telephone or by video call) with hospital outpatient clinics during 2021. Key findings include:
- Almost all patients (95%) said the care and treatment they received through virtual care helped them and more than eight in 10 (84%) said they would use virtual care again.
- The most frequently cited benefits from virtual care were convenience (65%) and saving time (50%).
- However, four in 10 patients said virtual care was not as good as in-person appointments.
The Snapshot report shows findings for key measures of overall care, including variation between facilities.