The NOCA Quality Improvement Plan describes the approach taken across the NATCAN cancer audits to develop improvement goals and performance indicators, aiming for these to be measurable, actionable and improvable.
The NOCA Quality Improvement goals, developed following a scoping exercise in 2023 and in consultation with stakeholders in the Clinical Reference Group, are as follows:
- Increase the proportion of patients receiving timely diagnosis and treatment decisions.
- Increase the proportion of patients receiving molecular diagnostics.
- Increase the proportion of patients receiving surgery.
- Increase the proportion of patients receiving chemotherapy.
- Improve rates of survival and reduce variation in survival.
The NOCA has identified seven performance indicators to monitor progress against these five improvement goals and how they map to clinical guidelines and standards. A range of improvement methods and improvement activities to help deliver the Quality Improvement Plan are also described.