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.
|
Metadata
- High level information
- Summary information
- Statistical quality information
- Weblinks
- Keywords
- Open Data
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 monthLast update
24/10/2024Next update
21/11/2024Publishing organisation
Welsh GovernmentSource 1
Suspected Cancer Pathway, Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) and National Data Resource (NDR)Contact email
stats.healthinfo@gov.walesDesignation
National StatisticsLowest level of geographical disaggregation
Local health boardsGeographical coverage
Local health boardsLanguages covered
English and WelshData 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-licenceGeneral 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
MonthlyData reference periods
December 2020 onwardsRevisions 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.
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%.