What is NATCAN?
The National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN) is a new national centre of excellence which will shine a spotlight on the care and treatment of patients who are diagnosed with cancer in England and Wales. It will bring all cancer audits together under one umbrella for the first time. The aim is to strengthen NHS cancer services by examining data on treatment and patient outcomes, in order to improve quality and results. It has been commissioned to produce new cancer audits by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), on behalf of NHS England and the Welsh Government.
Where is it based?
NATCAN is part of the Clinical Effectiveness Unit (CEU) in London – a collaboration between the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). The CEU brings together the best clinicians (the doctors on the front line against cancer who know what the problems are) and the best academics (the data scientists and statisticians who can interpret the results generated by the data in the most effective way). It has already been working on cancer audits for more than 15 years.
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