Bowel cancer report (NBOCA / NATCAN)

Reports | Published: 09 Jan 2025

The National Bowel Cancer Audit (NBOCA), which is part of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN), has published a report on care received by people with bowel cancer in England and Wales, focusing on those diagnosed between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.

The proportion diagnosed with Stage 1 or 2 bowel cancer in England and Wales has remained relatively static

A key ambition of the NHS Long Term Plan cancer strategy for England is that by 2028, 75% of people with cancer will be diagnosed with Stage 1 or 2 disease. This report finds that the proportion diagnosed with Stage 1 or 2 bowel cancer in England and Wales has remained relatively static at 40% in 2022/23, compared to 37% in 2018/19.

In addition to further findings related to the characteristics of people with bowel cancer, this report contains key findings relating to quality improvement, improving oncological management and Stage 4 disease, and improving the diagnostic pathway and peri-operative care. For example, in peri-operative care, there was a decrease in the percentage of people who died within 90 days of surgery (3.4% in 2018/19, compared to 2.7% in 2022/23).

The report includes five recommendations to support quality improvement:

  • Improve data completeness of key items in national cancer registration datasets to allow risk adjustment of performance indicators
  • Increase the proportion of people who are offered mismatch repair (MMR) assessment to identify those with Lynch syndrome and inform surgical decision making, and systemic treatments
  • Increase the proportion of people who have their ileostomy closed within 18-months of anterior resection for rectal cancer
  • Reduce variation between trusts/MDTs in the use of chemotherapy for people with Stage 3 colon cancer
  • Understand variation in the utilisation of neo-adjuvant radiotherapy for people with rectal cancer to optimise outcomes.

Read the full report: You can see all key findings and read the report in full by clicking on the link below.

Stay up-to-date: For notifications of future reports from HQIP, sign up to our mailing list.

Further data: You can access data dashboards on each of the cancer audits within NATCAN here: www.natcan.org.uk/reports/natcan-quarterly-data-dashboards.

More information: For further information, go to the programme page on this website.

REPORT
INFOGRAPHIC

Don’t miss out. Sign up to be notified when this resource is updated and to receive updates about other related quality improvement resources, events and news from HQIP. Or you can  .


By continuing you agree to receive emails with updates and other information from HQIP and you are confirming you are over the age of 13.

Please read our privacy policy to understand how HQIP uses the information you provide, your use of HQIP’s website and your interaction with the marketing emails to improve the relevance of the communications we send you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

I have read and agree with the contents of the privacy policy.

Bowel cancer report (NBOCA / NATCAN)