New Technologies in the NSW Cancer Registry Evaluation
Cancer is a notifiable condition under the Public Health Act, with a requirement to report the notifiable cancer cases to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The NSW Cancer Registry (the Registry) services this federal requirement while also maintaining a view of state-wide cancer rates, survival, and importantly, outcomes of cancer treatments delivered in NSW facilities.
The Registry is unique as it is the first Australian population-based cancer registry to include data on cancer stage, treatment and quality of care for each person in NSW who is affected with cancer.
“Our Registry is quite [unique] because it is a population based registry … no other health type can say what happens across the population ... and this is why we are so special from any other health type.”
Shelley Rushton, Director Cancer Services and Information, Cancer Institute NSW
Why we did this
Optimal cancer treatment, care and support is a focus of the NSW Cancer Plan and aligns to Future Health's strategic outcome of delivering safe care across all settings. Both plans highlight the necessity of incorporating system enablers such as new technology and innovations to support optimal care, underpinned by collaboration with the cancer system.
The Registry receives over 200,000 cancer notifications annually. Over the past 5 years, it has been increasingly working strategically to reduce reliance on manual data collection and increase the ability to capture high quality data electronically by utilising advanced technologies and novel data engineering tools.
We conducted an evaluation to gain insight into the impact of new technologies on transforming the Registry. We assessed completeness and reach, timeliness, efficiency, and usage of the data that is collected, analysed, synthesised, and reported to underpin cancer control activities for effecting change. Insight into collaboration, being an overriding principle of the NSW Cancer Plan, was also investigated.
A Program logic, detailing the foundational and influencing parameters and the immediate and intermediate outcomes for the Registry’s implementation of new technologies, was developed and guided the evaluation.
