A cross-sectional survey of healthcare professionals to determine what they believe constitutes ‘specialist’ care for teenage and young adult patients with cancer

OBJECTIVES: To examine the attitudes of UK healthcare professionals towards what they believe constitutes specialist care for teenage and young adult (TYA) patients with cancer, to determine which factors they considered to be the most important components of specialist TYA care, and whether opinion varied between clinical specialties and reflected the drivers for care improvements within National Health Service (NHS) policy. DESIGN AND METHODS: The study utilised a cross-sectional survey, using Likert scales, to assess attitudes towards specialist care. Responses were grouped using model-based clustering methods implemented in LatentGold 4.5. SETTING: Participants from 98 NHS trusts in the UK were invited to participate in the study. PARTICIPANTS: 691 healthcare professionals involved in the management of TYA patients were approached; of these, 338 responded. RESULTS: 338 healthcare professionals responded (51.9% of those invited). Responses were grouped into three clusters according to the pattern of responses to the questions. One cluster rated age-appropriate care above all else, the second rated both age and site-appropriate care highly while the third assigned more importance to site-specific care. Overall, the psychosocial and supportive aspects of care were rated highest while statements relating to factors known to be important (access to clinical trials, treatment at a high volume centre and specialist diagnostics) were not rated as highly as expected. CONCLUSIONS: Attitudes varied widely between professionals treating TYA patients with cancer as to what constitutes key aspects of specialist care. Further work is needed to quantify the extent to which this influences practice.