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Welsh Government
Data Provider: Welsh Government Suspected cancer pathway (closed pathways): The number of pathways where the patient started their first definitive treatment and those informed they do not have cancer by local health board, tumour site, age group, sex, measure and month

Under the suspected cancer pathway, a pathway starts at the point of suspicion (for example when a GP makes a referral) and this is when the recorded waiting time starts. The pathway is closed, and their waiting time ends, when the patient starts their first definitive treatment, is downgraded (told they do not have cancer), chooses not to have treatment or if the patient dies. This data collection is based on closed pathway data (pathways that have started their first definitive treatment) and measures activity through the number of pathways being treated or being told by a specialist that they do not have cancer, rather than the number of patients entering the pathway.

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Click here to sortThe number of patients starting their first definitive treatment in the monthClick here to sortThe number of patients starting their first definitive treatment in the month within 62 days of first being suspected of cancer (no suspensions)Click here to sortThe percentage of patients starting their first definitive treatment in the month within 62 days of first being suspected of cancer (no suspensions)Click here to sortThe number of patients informed they do not have cancer
[Collapse]Wales3,8362,376123.929,709
Wales[Collapse]Betsi CadwaladrW11000023817459112.48,356
[Collapse]PowysW11000024.The data item is not applicable.The data item is not applicable.The data item is not applicable59
[Collapse]Hywel DdaW11000025745474127.73,462
[Collapse]Aneurin BevanW11000028706469132.86,432
[Collapse]Cardiff & ValeW11000029472302128.23,393
[Collapse]Cwm Taf MorgannwgW11000027667410122.94,199
[Collapse]Swansea BayW11000026429262121.93,808

Metadata

Title

Suspected cancer pathway (closed pathways): The number of pathways where the patient was: downgraded, started their first definitive treatment and those that started first definitive treatment within 62 days of first being suspected of cancer by local health board, tumour site, age group, sex, measure and month

Last update

19/06/2025 19/06/2025

Next update

24/07/2025

Publishing organisation

Welsh Government

Source 1

Suspected Cancer Pathway, Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) and National Data Resource (NDR)

Contact email

stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Designation

National Statistics

Lowest level of geographical disaggregation

Local health boards

Geographical coverage

Local health boards

Languages covered

English and Welsh

Data licensing

You may use and re-use this data free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government License - see http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence

General description

Under the suspected cancer pathway, a pathway starts at the point of suspicion (for example when a GP makes a referral) and this is when the recorded waiting time starts. The pathway is closed, and their waiting time ends, when the patient starts their first definitive treatment, is downgraded (told they do not have cancer), chooses not to have treatment or if the patient dies. This data collection is based on closed pathway data (pathways that have started their first definitive treatment) and measures activity through the number of pathways being treated or being told by a specialist that they do not have cancer, rather than the number of patients entering the pathway.

A number of wider measures from the suspected cancer pathway have been published, these provide more context to the activity and performance of cancer services in Wales. It is planned that a more robust data collection of open pathway data will happen later in 2021.

Data collection and calculation

Please find this information in the related statistical release, as per the given weblink.

Frequency of publication

Monthly

Data reference periods

December 2020 onwards

Revisions information

Data for December 2020 has been revised following an amendment to the data extraction methodology.

Data is subject to revision.

Further revisions have been made to data for July, August and September 2021. These changes have a minor impact on the Wales level figures but impact specifically on Betsi Cadwallder and Cardiff and Vale health boards. This is due to an incorrect code being executed to extract the data.

Keywords

Cancer; Suspected Cancer Pathway

Statistical quality

Data on age and sex is subject to fewer quality checks and caution is advised when interpreting it.

Please find this information in the related statistical release, as per the given weblink.

Note that data included in this statistical release covers a time period during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has affected both how some NHS services have been offered and people's choices regarding health services. See the latest release for more information.

Data up to November 2020 do not include all pathways affecting children. Data from November 2020 onwards include all reported SCP pathways for patients of all ages. The impact of this coverage change is very small. The extra data increase the Wales totals by approximately 0.2%.