Background
Roughly one in two people in this country will get some form of cancer during their lifetime. That means almost everyone has a story to tell about the impact a cancer diagnosis has had on them.
In all its forms, cancer kills nearly 150,000 people in England and Wales every year, and it can occur in any part of the body. But rates of survival are improving, sometimes dramatically, as we get better at treating patients, and understanding how best to fight against the disease.
That’s why the national cancer audits are so important – they give us information about how we look after our patients, and they direct action to where improvement is needed. By asking the right questions, and getting the message to the right people, our response can be more effective in looking at symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. It’s about improving the quality of services and care provided to patients with cancer in England and Wales.
If you want to know more about what cancer is, how it effects the human body, and how it is treated, visit the NHS website for detailed information, or charities such as Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support. There is a vast amount of good information and support online. Working together, we can improve outcomes for everyone. That is our goal at the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre.
Who we are
NATCAN audits will be delivered by the Clinical Effectiveness Unit (CEU) at the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng). The CEU is a collaboration between RCSEng and the Department of Health Services Research and Policy of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). It already has an excellent track record of producing high quality national cancer audits in prostate, gastro-oesophageal, bowel and breast cancers.
The NATCAN team is really keen to hear from you, and to ensure that patients are involved as much as they want to be.