Quality of life (QOL) assessments in patients with oesophageal cancer should provide clinically meaningful data that can assist management decision making. This study describes the development of a specific module for oesophageal cancer to use with the European Organisation into Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QOL questionnaire, the EORTC QLQ-C30. Relevant QOL issues were generated from a literature search and interviews with patients and oesophageal cancer specialists. Issues were formulated into items compatible with those of the EORTC QLQ-C30. The provisional module was pretested in patients from the United Kingdom, Spain and Sweden. The resulting module, the QLQ-OES 24, includes 24 items conceptualised as containing six scales and five single items. The addition of an oesophageal cancer-specific module to the core questionnaire should improve the sensitivity and specificity of the core instrument to allow detection of even small benefits accrued from new treatment modalities.