NLCA FAQs

The National Lung Cancer Audit (NLCA) evaluates the patterns of care and outcomes for people with lung cancer in England and Wales, and supports NHS services to improve the quality of care for these individuals.

The key stakeholders of NLCA are: NLCA Project Team members, members of NATCAN, Clinical Reference Group, PPI group, HQIP, NHS England, Welsh Government, Royal College of Surgeons of England, The British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG), Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in Great Britain & Ireland (SCTS) and Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.

The NLCA is part of NATCAN (National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre) and is run by the Clinical Effectiveness Unit (CEU) of The Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng). The audit is also delivered in partnership with the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery, the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation representing lung cancer patients and their carers, Lung Cancer Nursing UK and the British Thoracic Oncology Group. We are commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme. The day to day running of the NLCA is based at the RCSEng and is managed by a project team including clinicians, audit experts and cancer information specialists.

People are included in the NLCA if they have a new diagnosis of primary lung cancer (defined as ICD-10 diagnosis code C34). The following patients are excluded: patients identified with lung cancer through death certificate only, patients with non-lung cancer-related pathology codes and patients who cannot be assigned a trust of diagnosis.

Yes, the NLCA is included in the Quality Accounts lists.

Lung cancer is one of the most common and serious types of cancer with over 44,500 new cases diagnosed each year in the UK. Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK after breast cancer and is the commonest cause of cancer-related death. The National Lung Cancer Audit was developed in response to the findings that outcomes for lung cancer patients in the UK lagged behind those in other westernised countries, and varied considerably between organisations in the UK. We want to make sure that patients with lung cancer receive the best care throughout England and Wales. We communicate our findings to hospitals about the areas of lung cancer they are doing well in and where they could improve. The results will able be available to the public and patients.

All NHS hospitals in England and Wales that offer lung cancer care participate in the NLCA.

The quarterly data dashboard is updated in January, April, July and October. You can also refer to the “Update” tab on the dashboard, which displays the date of the next scheduled release. Our annual State of the Nation report is scheduled in February. To receive updates on the latest reports, you can subscribe to the Audit’s newsletter by emailing [email protected], and follow the Audit on LinkedIn and Bluesky.

The latest list of NLCA key COSD data items can be accessed on the NATCAN website at the following link:
https://www.natcan.org.uk/library/nlca-key-cosd-data-items