The aim of the National Oesophago-Gastric Cancer Audit (NOGCA) is to measure the quality and outcomes of care for patients diagnosed for the first time with oesopahageal or gastric cancer in NHS hospitals in England and Wales, and so support OG cancer units in the UK to improve the quality of the care received by patients. Since 2012 the audit has also included patients with high grade dysplasia (HGD).
What does it report?
- characteristics of patients, their cancers and treatment selection
- patterns of care received by curative and palliative patients
- short-term outcomes of both curative and palliative treatments
- survival rates of patients
- differences in survival rates by patient characteristics, cancer type and the treatments received
Benefits
Survival depends on early diagnosis. The management of patients with this type of cancer is complex. The audit hopes to improve the process of care and the outcomes of treatment for all cancer patients, both curative and palliative by
- producing up-to-date information on the quality of care for OG cancer patients
- providing downloadable data for OG cancer units on their practice and outcomes
- satisfying General Medical Council (GMC) requirements for performance assessment and revalidation
- directly supporting the “cancer measures” element of the peer review process.