Research & Information Services

Service Level Data

Data are supplied on a service level to assist in the planning and monitoring of the efficacy, equity and cost effectiveness of the diagnostic and therapeutic services provided to cancer patients. The data include the provision of numbers of patients diagnosed or treated at NHS Trusts, patient treatment patterns, mapping the patient pathway from their PCT of residence through diagnosis and onto treatment. In addition a number of clinical outcome measures are currently being developed, including 30-day peri-operative mortality.

This aspect of the WMCIU's work has become more important since the publication of the NHS Cancer Plan, which outlines the government's programme to tackle cancer. The WMCIU is becoming increasingly involved in the monitoring of performance against clinical guidelines, including the "Improving Outcomes" guidance issued by the Department of Health and the National Institute for Clinical Effectiveness (NICE) on which the national cancer standards are based.

One example of service level data that the Information Service has provided is the booklets circulated to cancer networks to support the Cancer Services Peer Review Visits in 2004/5. The information team produced reports for cancer networks which included trust specific data such as:

• the West Midlands Outcome Measures Booklet provided incidence, mortality, 1- and 5-year survival, place of death, treatment patterns and treatment caseloads for a number of major cancer sites (breast, colon, rectum, lung, ovary, prostate and stomach and oesophageal)

• Cancer Network Outcome Measures Booklets (a separate booklet for each network) included information on diagnosis and treatment pathways, clinical caseloads and peri-operative mortality for the same cancer sites.