National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN)
The National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) is a national centre of excellence launched in 1 October 2022 to assure the quality of National Health Service (NHS) cancer services in England and Wales and, where necessary, provide guidance about how cancer services can be improved. The centre is based in the CEU and commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), on behalf of NHS England and the Welsh Government.
NATCAN currently delivers ten national cancer audits. This includes six new audits in breast cancer (primary and metastatic), ovarian, pancreatic, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and kidney cancer. Four established national cancer audits in lung, colorectal, prostate and oesophago-gastric cancers moved into NATCAN during 2023.
NATCAN has brought all the national cancer audits together under one roof, enabling a closer collaboration between the audit teams and the sharing of audit methods and best practice. The individual audits will:
- Provide regular and timely evidence to cancer services of where patterns of care in England and Wales may vary.
- Support NHS services to identify the reasons for the variation in care to guide quality improvement initiatives.
- Stimulate improvements in cancer detection, treatment and outcomes for patients, including survival.
NATCAN has approximately 35 staff from a range of disciplines including statistics, data science, health services research, epidemiology, quality improvement and clinical audit management. It is led by Dr Julie Nossiter, Director of Operations; Prof Ajay Aggarwal, Clinical Director; Prof David Cromwell, Director of the CEU; Prof Kate Walker, Professor of Medical Statistics, LSHTM; and Prof Jan van der Meulen, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, LSHTM.
Each NATCAN audit is carried out as a clinical and methodological partnership that provides expertise in cancer care, data science, clinical epidemiology, health services research, performance assessment, and quality improvement. Stakeholder involvement underpins the design and delivery of the audits, with their input guiding the selection of performance indicators, the formulation of audit recommendations and the identification of priorities for quality improvement. Each audit has (a) a patient and public involvement (PPI) forum with representation of people with lived experience of cancer and (b) a clinical reference group, including NHS commissioners and providers, professional organisations, data providers, and patient charities. This ensures that all activities and outputs reflect priorities across all stakeholders.
If you would like to learn more about NATCAN and the national cancer audits, please visit our NATCAN website or the specific audit webpages.