National audit of patient reported experience of radical cystectomy for bladder cancer pathways.

Objective: The objective of this study was to measure and describe the national patient experience of radical cystectomy (RC) pathways in the UK using the validated Cystectomy-Pathway Assessment Tool (C-PAT). Patients and Methods: A cohort of 1081 patients who underwent RC for bladder cancer, between 1 January 2021 and 31 July 2022 at 33 UK cystectomy centres, returned completed C-PAT responses. SPSS was employed for data summary statistics, including median, interquartile range, Mann Whitney U test or Chi-square test with a 95% confidence interval to assess statistical significance between potentially associated variables. Open-text responses in the C-PAT tool were analysed and coded using NVivo software. Results: In this cohort, the greatest perceived delay in the RC pathway, reported by 19% of patients ( Conclusion: This audit demonstrates the feasibility of measuring patient experience of RC pathways at scale. The C-PAT tool demonstrated utility in identifying specific pathway areas for quality improvement. Overall UK patients report a high quality pathway experience. A focus on improving the referral pathway between primary and secondary care is necessary.