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Two-year project to map survival rates from ovarian cancer in England underway

Ovarian Cancer Action hopes pilot scheme will improve diagnosis and treatment
Ovarian cancer

Ovarian Cancer Action hopes pilot scheme will improve diagnosis and treatment as UK has relatively poor survival rates


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A new two-year pilot project will map ovarian cancer care, surgery and survival rates across England.

The Ovarian Cancer Action charity’s pilot scheme will prepare the ground for a full-scale, regular clinical audit in ovarian cancer to drive improvements in clinical practice, as well as providing a model that can be rolled out across other cancers.

Around 6,500 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in England each year, and while there have been significant improvements in diagnosis and treatment in recent years, just 43% of women in England survive five or more years after diagnosis.  

Worst survival rates

Ovarian Cancer Action chief executive Cary Wakefield said: ‘The UK has some of the worst ovarian cancer survival rates in Europe.

‘We are funding this pilot project to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this insidious disease, because women with ovarian cancer can’t wait.’

The pilot will make use of data that is already being collected by gynae-oncology teams across the country, and collated, maintained and quality assured by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS).

During the project, analysts will publish a range of data outputs on ovarian cancer, including a final report on the audit and its findings.

Audits across the UK

The long-term aspiration is to see audits take place across all four UK nations.

The pilot is jointly funded by the British Gynaecological Cancer Society, Target Ovarian Cancer and Ovarian Cancer Action and is being delivered by analysts at the NCRAS, which is part of Public Health England.

The UK government funds clinical audits in other diseases and conditions – mapping care pathways, surgery and survival and addressing regional variation – including lung, bowel, breast and oesophago-gastric cancers.

British Gynaecological Cancer Society president Andy Nordin said: ‘There is a real commitment across the ovarian cancer clinical community to further improve outcomes for women with ovarian cancer.

‘This pilot project marks an exciting step forward in delivering real improvements in the care and treatment of ovarian cancer.’

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