Ovarian cancer Quality Performance Indicators
Cohort: October 2018-September 2020, followed up to end September 2022

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) is the fourth in a series of publications on ovarian cancer survival, using data from the Ovarian Cancer Quality Performance Indicators (QPIs) dataset. This publication focuses on patients diagnosed during October 2018 to September 2020, followed up to end of September 2022.

The main purpose is to examine whether survival outcomes for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer were equitable across the three regional cancer networks: North Cancer Alliance (NCA), South East Scotland Cancer Network (SCAN) and West of Scotland Cancer Network (WoSCAN).

Main points

For this latest two-year cohort of women (diagnosed October 2018 to September 2020):

• There was a significant difference in survival for women diagnosed with ovarian cancer across the three cancer networks.
  • Median survival was 2.7 years for all patients, with 2.1 years in NCA, 2.5 years in WoSCAN and 3.6 years in SCAN.
  • Survival at one, two and three years appeared to be higher in SCAN than in the other two networks. For example, 3-year survival was 44% in NCA, 46% in WoSCAN and 54% in SCAN.
• Differences in surgical practice were observed between networks. For example, only 57% of women in NCA had surgery compared with two-thirds of women in the other two networks (SCAN: 67% and WoSCAN: 66%).
• A clinical commentary has been provided alongside these results to aid interpretation and detail actions being undertaken to address the observed inequalities.
• There were 927 cases of ovarian cancer eligible for inclusion in this survival analysis, with 213 patients in NCA (23%), 291 in SCAN (31%) and 423 in WoSCAN (46%).
• Patients were followed up for a maximum of four-years, with all patients having complete follow-up for two years. The survival estimates and conclusions drawn may change with longer follow-up.

Background

This report was initially released as Management Information in March 2023. 

The data are derived from the Ovarian Cancer QPI dataset, part of the National cancer quality performance indicators which 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.

Note the data analysed within the cancer QPIs are not directly comparable to those reported by the Scottish Cancer Registry in PHS as only patients who receive definitive cancer treatment within NHS Scotland will be included in the QPIs dataset, unlike the SCR data which includes all patients diagnosed within Scotland, providing population-based incidence data.

As a result of this, the cancer survival figures reported here for the cancer QPIs are not directly comparable to the overall population-based survival statistics routinely reported by PHS.

Further information

The clinical commentary to support these three publications is available from the downloads section of this page.