Prostate cancer report (NPCA / NATCAN)
The National Prostate Cancer Audit (NPCA), which is part of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN), has published a report on care received by men diagnosed with prostate cancer in England and Wales from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2023.
In England, 9 out of 10 diagnoses were in white men. Across all age groups over 50 years, black populations had more diagnoses per 1000 men than other ethnicities
This report finds that there was an increase in men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023 in England (9% more compared to 2022, and 25% more compared to 2019), and in 2022 in Wales (26% more compared to 2021). As such, there is a corresponding increase in the number of men receiving radical radiotherapy or radical prostatectomy. At a time when there’s staff shortages, this puts additional pressure on all aspects of prostate cancer care and suggests more resource will need to be allocated to prostate cancer to cope with a rising burden of disease.
Results across the audit’s performance indicators were found to be stable, though the report highlights ongoing variations in complication rates following radical treatment among providers – indicating opportunities for quality improvement. With a section on inequalities, it also underscores the need for targeted interventions to address sociodemographic and age-related disparities in diagnoses, and management of both low and high-risk prostate cancer.
There are also five recommendations to support quality improvement:
- Aim to achieve high completeness of key data items at the point of collection
- Continue to advocate active surveillance for men with low-risk prostate cancer
- Investigate why men with high-risk/locally advanced disease are not considered for radical treatment and aim to reduce that proportion
- Review variation between providers in rates of genitourinary/gastrointestinal complications and 90-day readmission rates, and
- Decisions regarding treatment should consider life expectancy and co-morbidity, balancing the treatment benefits and risks, to ensure equitable care.
Read the full report: You can see all key findings and read the report in full by clicking on the link below.
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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.
