Cancer diagnoses recorded in the cancer waiting times database
Updated 25 May 2022
Applies to England
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This is one of a series of summaries produced for the campaign, each focusing on a different evaluation measure (referred to as a metric) which reflects a key point in the patient pathway. These metrics should not be considered in isolation. Please refer to the considerations when interpreting these results.
Main findings
The first national ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign may have had some impact on the numbers of all gynaecological and cervical cancer diagnoses recorded in the Cancer Waiting Times (CWT) database irrespective of referral route. There was no evidence to suggest the campaign had an impact on the number of uterine cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database.
Background
This metric considers whether the first national ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign had an impact on the numbers of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database, irrespective of referral route. We may expect to see an increase in cancer diagnoses if the campaign caused an increase in urgent GP referrals for gynaecological cancer.
Methods
The number of cancers diagnosed per month in the national CWT monitoring dataset, was provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement. The data was presented by month of first treatment. The analysis period was defined as March to May 2019 and was compared to the same 3 months in 2018. The analysis considered all gynaecological (ICD 10 C51 to C58), cervical (C53), and uterine (C54 to C55).
Results
Figure 1 shows stable trends, with monthly variation, in the numbers of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database from January 2018 to October 2019.
Figure 1: Monthly number of all gynaecological, cervical, and uterine cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database, from January 2018 to December 2019 in England.
Comparing March to May 2019 with the same months in the previous year:
- there was a statistically significant 8.5% increase in the number of all gynaecological cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant 8.6% increase in the number of gynaecological cancer diagnoses in the CWT database for women aged 65 and over. There were no statistically significant increases for other age groups
- there was a statistically significant 13.6% increase in the number of cervical cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database (p=0.029). There was a statistically significant 16.9% increase in the number of cervical cancer diagnoses in the CWT database for women aged 25 to 49 years. There were no statistically significant increases for other age groups
- there were no statistically significant changes in the number of uterine cancers diagnoses recorded in the CWT database
Conclusions
There were statistically significant increases in the numbers of all gynaecological and cervical cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database, though this appears to be in line with long-term trends. There appears to have been no change in the number of uterine cancer diagnoses recorded in the CWT database.
Get advice on the signs and symptoms of cancer from the NHS website. You can also find out more about the evaluation of Be Clear on Cancer campaigns.