2011 Cancer system performance report

January 31, 2011

Discover more about what’s working and where improvements are needed in Canada’s cancer system in this report from 2011

This 2011 report is the Partnership’s third report that looks at the cancer system’s performance across Canada. This report presents indicators that measure performance, and shows patterns and trends for making improvements.

Developed in close collaboration with our provincial and national partners, this report’s findings offer a comprehensive national review of cancer care indicators that span prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, research, patient experience and long-term outcomes.

This report builds on the first two by updating some indicators with more recent data and introducing new indicators in the domains of prevention, screening, treatment and long-term outcomes.

Two new chapters have been added. The chapter about developmental and interim indicators reports on indicators that require further development or are placeholders so that more definitive ones can be developed in the future. The chapter about patient experience replaces the previous one about supportive care and survivorship to signal an expanded focus. Indicators are being developed to assess patient-centred care.

Quick facts from this 2011 report

• Rates for both smoking and second-hand smoke exposure are falling.
• Alcohol consumption has increased as has the percentage of Canadians considered overweight or obese. However, physical actvity and fruit and vegetable consumption are improving.
• Data available on HPV vaccination show differences in uptake between provinces.
• Participation rates for Pap tests were fairly consistent across provinces with differences usually within 10 per cent.
• Self-reported participation rates for colorectal cancer screnning continue to be quite different by province (22 to 52 per cent), reflecting the date differences of when the provincial programs started.
• For breast-cancer wait times from a positive mammogram to diagnosis resolution, there is still a lot of difference between provinces, with target timeframes ranging from 38 to 84 per cent.
• The radiation therapy rate stays consistent across provinces (29 to 34 per cent), but continues to show a trend of declining treatment rates by patient age.
• Patient satisfaction with coordination and continnuity of care ranged from 50 to 90 per cent with “Provider awareness of medical history” scoring the lowest in all provinces. “Knowing who was in charge for each therapy” scored the highest in most provinces.
• From 1995 to 2007, overall cancer rates were steady for men but rose for women. Overall the rate of cancer-related deaths fell substantially for men but fell less for women.

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