The National Prostate Cancer Audit (NPCA) determines whether the care received by men diagnosed with prostate cancer in England and Wales is consistent with current recommended practice and provides information to support healthcare providers, commissioners and regulators in helping improve care for patients. The NPCA reports on process and outcome measures from all aspects of the care pathway for men with prostate cancer.
In the 2019 Annual Report, we present the results for patients diagnosed between 1st April 2017 and 31st March 2018 in England and Wales including:
1. The participation of NHS providers and the completeness and quality of the data submitted to the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), Public Health England and the Wales Cancer Network, Public Health Wales.
2. Patient demographic information, key aspects of the diagnostic and staging process they underwent and the treatments they received.
3. The variation in disease presentation and treatment allocation across NHS providers in England and Wales. For the first time, we report on the use of docetaxel, brachytherapy boost (high-dose rate and low-dose rate) and radiotherapy hypofractionation in England.
In addition, we present:
4. Treatment outcomes (up to two years post-treatment) for men in England and Wales undergoing radical prostatectomy (RP) or radical external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in 2016.
Individual provider results are available enabling regional and national comparisons.