The proposed study will allow us to determine how many patients have ongoing symptoms following their surgery for rectal cancer. It will also allow us to use a newly developed scoring system the Low Anterior Resection Syndrome (LARS) score for the first time in a UK population, to ensure that it can accurately be used in the future to measure the problem and aid development of new therapies. An appreciation of the impact of symptoms on postoperative quality of life will encourage routine assessment of functional outcomes in clinical practice, allowing identification of patients who may benefit from treatment.