Renal cancer Quality Performance Indicators
Patients diagnosed from January 2021 to December 2023

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) summarises recent national performance, measured using the national Quality Performance Indicators (QPIs) relating to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer of the kidney. The aim of the indicators is to ensure that efforts to improve treatment are focussed on those aspects that are most important in terms of improving survival and individual care experience whilst reducing variation and supporting the most effective and efficient delivery of care for patients. The indicators for all the included cancers were developed by, and periodically undergo formal review by, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, PHS and the three regional cancer networks (NCA - North Cancer Alliance; SCAN - South East Scotland Cancer Network; and WoSCAN - West of Scotland Cancer Network). Data are gathered and recorded in a central database (eCASE electronic Cancer Audit Support Environment) by specialised cancer audit teams working in NHS Boards within the regional networks.

This dataset includes patients who were diagnosed with renal cancer (see full list of included anatomical sites in the PHS data definitions document) between January 2021 and December 2023.

Main points

• The numbers of patients included in these cancer audit records were:
  • 1,043 patients diagnosed between January 2023 and December 2023
  • 1,049 patients diagnosed between January 2022 and December 2022
  • 1,020 patients diagnosed between January 2021 and December 2021
• The data are also available in a spreadsheet.
• At Scotland level for 2023, twelve of the sixteen targets were met.
• The results presented in this report illustrate that some of the QPI targets remain challenging, with room for further service improvement. The main areas for improvement relate to QPIs 1, 3, 10 and 11.
• It is encouraging that targets relating to QPIs 4, 7, 8 and 13 were consistently met by all networks in this reporting period.
• The results for QPI 8 show rates of mortality following treatment remain very low.
• Please see the separate PDF for QPI 12 Volume of Cases per Surgeon, which shows how many kidney cancer procedures surgeons in Scotland perform each year, measured against the best practice standard.

These national cancer programme figures do not include patients treated in private healthcare.

Background

The QPIs were put in place to support quality improvement in the treatment of a range of cancers - see About the QPIs. Scottish territorial health boards are required to report their performance against these nationally agreed indicators under the national cancer quality programme - see Scottish Government letter CEL 06 2012 setting out the details. Reporting in this current format was first undertaken in 2012. Performance for other cancers can be found in QPI reports.

Two of the networks released reports in respect of QPI performance in their region for recent years:  SCAN and WoSCAN. In addition, those directly involved in service improvement can access more detailed information through the Cancer QPI Dashboard within SCRIS (Scottish Cancer Registry and Intelligence Service). Due to the level of detail, access is strictly controlled. New users may apply for authorisation (to access the data) via https://useraccess.nhsnss.scot.nhs.uk.

Further information

QPI publications cover a three-year period, so this publication's next release will be in August 2028.