Aim:
Incorporating seven domains from cancer ‘Prevention’ through to ‘Outcomes’, the NCCI framework will present the most current national data for a range of cancer control indicators in an accessible and interactive format. The primary aim of the NCCI website (hosted as part of the Cancer Australia website) will be to monitor and report population-level trends to drive improvements across the cancer control continuum in Australia, and to facilitate international benchmarking of Australia’s cancer control efforts.
Methods:
The NCCI website brings together information from key data collections at the national level. The NCCI website reports on seven domains including ‘Diagnosis’, ‘Outcomes’ and ‘Treatment’. The ‘Treatment’ domain has been developed for the first time to provide an overview of system-wide activity in key primary cancer-related treatments. A comprehensive assessment has been undertaken of available data from national administrative datasets for treatment therapies, including: surgery (National Hospital Morbidity Database), radiotherapy (Medicare Benefits Schedule), and chemotherapy and systemic therapies (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme).
Results:
Example summary data from several indicators across the NCCI website, including demographic disaggregation by age, sex, remoteness area of residence and SES (where available) will be provided. Methodology for the development of cancer-related treatment data will be presented. Learnings from this project are currently being used to inform the linkage of national data on cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, treatments, and survival.
Conclusion:
The NCCI provides, for the first time, high-level national data to monitor population-level trends in cancer treatment, as well as other core indicators across the cancer control continuum. It will help refine our understanding of the success of different cancer control strategies, identify areas of gaps and inequity in outcomes, and support the development of evidence-informed policy.