Lymphoma
Patients diagnosed between October 2016 and September 2019

About this release

This release by PHS highlights the publication of the National Lymphoma Cancer Quality Performance Indicators (QPIs) in the Cancer QPIs dashboard, now held within the Scottish Cancer Registry and Intelligence Service (SCRIS). Performance against a range of indicators developed by lymphoma specialists is reported. The information collected from clinical audits provides an opportunity to review NHSScotland performance against these measures.

Based on user engagement and stakeholder feedback, PHS will not be producing a written report or providing data tables for this publication. The indicators can be viewed via the SCRIS dashboard or in already published regional reports.

Main points

• There were 1,149 people diagnosed with lymphoma in Scotland between Oct 18 and Sep 19.
• Steady improvement can be seen at a National level for QPIs relating to treatment response (QPI 2) and virological testing (QPI 11).
• There are nationally recognised challenges with regards to sufficient capacity in radiology and this has impacted on performance against a number of the QPIs (QPIs 1, 2, 3 and 12).
• Some of the QPIs such as PET CT staging (QPI 3) and Lymphoma MDT (QPI 5) have been challenging to achieve and there remains room for further service improvement.
• Changes in clinical practice over time have made some of the QPIs less clinically relevant than they once were (e.g. QPI 13) and all QPI definitions are currently being reviewed as part of the Formal Review of Lymphoma QPIs to ensure that they remain clinically relevant.

Background

National cancer quality performance indicators have been developed to support continuous quality improvement in cancer care. NHS Boards are required to report these indicators against a clinically agreed indicator specific target as part of the mandatory national cancer quality programme. They have been developed collaboratively by the North Cancer Alliance (external website), South East Scotland Cancer Network (external website), West of Scotland Cancer Network (external website), Healthcare Improvement Scotland (external website) and PHS.

Further information

Access

Please note that the Cancer QPIs are now located within the SCRIS dashboard, thus bringing all the cancer data together in the one place. To obtain access to the Cancer QPIs dashboard, please follow the link to the https://useraccess.nhsnss.scot.nhs.uk (external website) and select SCRIS.

Reports

For further information please refer to the West of Scotland Cancer (WoSCAN), South East Scotland Cancer Network (SCAN) and North Cancer Alliance (NCA) published reports.

Lymphoma Cancer Indicators

Documents detailing the Lymphoma cancer (external website) indicators are available from Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

Cancer Quality Performance Indicators

• PHS: Cancer Quality Performance Indicators
• For more information on the National Cancer Quality Programme - Scottish Government letter CEL 06 2012 (external website).

The next release of this publication will be in November 2023.