About the survey

What is it?

The Under 16 Cancer Patient Experience Survey asks questions about NHS cancer or tumour care in England.

Who can take part?

The survey is sent to children under the age of 16 and their parents or carers who have recently had care at certain hospitals in England. Those hospitals are Principal Treatment Centres (PTCs).

Some children who are 16 years old may also be sent a survey if they received care within the past year as a 15 year old.

Who is running the survey?

An organisation called Picker is running the survey. Picker is a healthcare research charity and has lots of experience in running patient surveys. Picker have been asked to run the survey by NHS England who lead the National Health Service (NHS) in England.

Why is the survey being done?

The NHS wants to find out what is good about the cancer and tumour care being given to children, and what could be better.

Hearing from patients and learning about their experiences is a very important part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

What will happen to the answers?

The answers will be used to understand and improve cancer care across England, to help make care the best it can be.

How did you decide which questions to ask?

Picker, along with NHS England, asked lots of people to tell us which things they would like to be asked about. We asked:

  • Children
  • Parents 
  • People who work in hospitals
  • People who work in other parts of the NHS
  • Cancer charities

Once the topics were decided, the survey questions were tested with children and parents to check that they were understood and asked in the right way.

Each time the survey is done, the questions are checked to see if they still work. New questions might be added if needed. 

What kind of things does the survey ask about?

The survey asks children about their cancer or tumour care. The questions ask about things like the hospital ward, the hospital staff and the treatment given. 

Is there just one survey for all children?

No. There are three surveys for different age groups:

  • A survey for parents/carers of 0-7 year olds;
  • A survey for 8-11 year olds, with some questions for their parents/carers to complete;
  • A survey for 12-15 year olds, with some questions for their parents/carers to complete.

How does the survey work?

NHS hospitals tell Picker which people to send a survey to. The people who get a survey are chosen because they have a diagnosis of cancer or a tumour and have recently been cared for or treated in certain NHS hospitals in England. Those people stayed overnight in hospital or were seen as a day case. 

Both children and parents are invited to give feedback. 

A paper survey is sent out to parents but the survey can also be done online. 

How do I find out more? 

If you have received a survey and you would like more information, please see the ‘I have received a survey’ page.

If you are an NHS provider taking part in the survey and would like more information, please see the ‘Survey support materials’ page.

If you have further questions, please see: