The context in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience healthcare, combined with poor cancer outcomes and well-documented obstacles to accessing high quality cancer care, makes examination of the adequacy of patient experience measures an important issue. This research involved stakeholder interviews regarding ‘what to measure’ and ‘how to measure’, an analysis of gaps in existing tools, development of a new approach (the Indigenous People’s Experiences of Cancer Care Survey (IPECCS)) and pilot testing the new approach in a range of health services. IPECCS interview participants reported many problems experienced during their cancer care, as well as suggestions for improvement, however the findings revealed a tension between facilitating patients to talk in detail about experiences that are important to them, and maximising the efficiency and immediacy of data collection and use. Findings of this work, combined with developments in other jurisdictions, can improve the capacity of health services to understand the perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. While simply measuring patient experience will not by itself improve care, it is a necessary first step towards driving effective improvement initiatives.