Dr Sandra StraussThe challenge
Cancer patient data is collected by Public Health England through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), to help us understand sarcoma care in England. Previous research has found that many sarcoma patients are not being managed within specialist centres, and that these patients may have a worse survival. There are also challenges with data collection and quality which need to be addressed.
A better knowledge and understanding of how patients with sarcoma are treated within the NHS can help us identify variation in care and the need for improvement, as well as monitor progress.
How will this project tackle this challenge?
This project will dig into this data to better understand sarcoma care in England. This project will help confirm these findings and develop methods to look at sarcoma patient groups in more detail, including those with different subtypes and parts of the body and across patients of all ages and regions of the country.
The project will aim to identify the most disadvantaged groups of patients and can be used by those planning and organising care including commissioners, specialist sarcoma multidisciplinary teams and sarcoma advisory groups. The team will also find gaps and limitations in the NCRAS data to make reporting and monitoring of sarcoma services more effective, and address variations in care going forward.
What this means for people affected by sarcoma
Data on sarcoma care is really important for telling us what’s working and what isn’t – you can then use it to make changes. The team hope that the analysis delivered by this project will lead to better care delivered by the specialist services, which are essential for people with sarcoma now and in the future.
‘We’re making progress. Once this data has been cleaned and harmonised, this work won’t need to be done again. More than that, this piece of work can be used as a benchmark to measure improvements in quality of care for years to come’ – data analyst Shane Collins
