New national audits of primary breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer

New national audits

National Audit of Primary Breast Cancer (NAoPri) and National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer (NAoMe) 

Two new audits, commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), will publish information on the care provided by all NHS hospitals delivering breast cancer care in England and Wales:

• The National Audit of Primary Breast Cancer (NAoPri)
• The National Audit of Metastatic Breast Cancer (NAoMe)

These are two of six new audits commissioned by HQIP from October 2022, as part of the new National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN).

Both audits will build on work by the National Audit of Breast Cancer in Older patients (NABCOP).

They will follow the same methodology used by the NABCOP, with no audit-specific data collection. They will use existing sources of patient data collected by national organisations, including the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) in England and the Wales Cancer Network (WCN).

• For England, data will be used from datasets including Cancer Registrations, COSD, HES, SACT, RTDS. Each dataset has its own data submission schedules.
• For Wales, data will be used from national datasets including Cancer Registrations, PEDW. Submission schedules for these datasets are managed by the WCN.
• Details of the data and routine data sources, previously used by the NABCOP, which NAoPri and NAoMe will continue to use can be found via: https://www.nabcop.org.uk/resources/nabcop-combined-data-specification/ .
• NHS organisations do not need to register to participate in either of the new audits.

Useful NABCOP resources:

• https://www.nabcop.org.uk/resources/improving-data-completeness/
• https://www.nabcop.org.uk/resources/the-nabcop-guide-to-the-breast-cancer-pathway-for-older-women/
• https://www.nabcop.org.uk/resources/fitness-assessment-tool/