Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) the rationale as to why the most recent official statistics data available from the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) is from 2022; and (ii) any steps that can be taken to reduce the time taken on NICR official outputs.
Minister of Health: Official statistics from the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) have been published up to 2022. Cancer registry data requires substantial time to collect, process, and undergo quality assurance. To achieve high levels of data completeness, cancer registries cross validate data from multiple sources such as hospital administrative data and death registrations. These sources undergo clinical coding by staff, a process that can take several months before NICR receives the data. At present, NICR does not have validated data beyond 2022.
Once NICR receives data, a team of skilled Cancer Intelligence Officers (CIOs) process it in line with cancer registration rules and guidance from the European Network of Cancer Registries. Standardisation across cancer registries enables national and international comparability.
Importantly, each release of NICR official statistics contains comprehensive information not only on cancer incidence in Northern Ireland but also, unlike some other registries, on cancer stage at diagnosis, mortality, survival and prevalence. Cancer survival data is important when assessing the impact of cancer control measures, while cancer stage is vital when monitoring trends in early cancer diagnoses and assessing efforts to improve this.
NICR has a consistently high proportion of cancer staging across the UK and Ireland with over 80% of malignant tumours staged. It takes a significant amount of time for CIOs to determine and assign tumour staging in line with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) guidance and involves using a range of clinical data, including pathology and radiology information.
Producing cancer data at this level of detail and quality takes time. NICR continues to explore ways to improve timeliness.
ENDS
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