Cancer Registration

Data Quality

Automated validation procedures check certain aspects of the quality of the cancer registration data as they are entered onto the central database to prevent miss keying of information. The data are also subjected to routine checks against a control file supplied by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) before submission to their national database. Any rejected cases are reconciled and re-checked against the control file before eventual submission. Other validation checks include searches for duplicates and anomalies in the data through routine audits. Close monitoring of receipt of data identifies potential problems with ascertainment of cases from individual providers

The WMCIU’s registration and data quality team produces booklets analysing the quality, timeliness and completeness of data received from each hospital on an annual basis.