Cancer Waiting Times support and FAQs

We recommend National CWT system users use this guidance before contacting us with a query. We have also provided some links to further guidance including our user guide. 

The national CWT reports are generated after the submission and on screen edit deadlines have closed.  We publish a table of report generation dates.  

Records not included in reports 

This function depends upon the option you select: 

All Records will include all records in the selected period. If you have selected the two weeks wait preview it will only include records where the DateFirstSeen is in the selected period, but if you select any other preview reports it will only include records where the TreatmentStartDateCancer is in the selected period.

Note there is a column called IncludedInReport which will highlight if or not that record is present on the selected preview report.

Records included in report will apply the same date filtering logic as All Records and will apply the additional filter to only include records that are included in the selected preview report.

Records not included in report will apply the same date filtering logic as All Records and will apply the additional filter to only include records that are not included in the selected preview report.

Preview screen 

• the preview function is for previewing data which has been successfully uploaded, it is designed to only show records which have been uploaded without errors, which have finished being processed at the time the preview is accessed by the user.
• download individual records will give the user a download of records which have been successfully uploaded and finished processing.
• reports is the final version of records of the successful upload and are generated after the submission and onscreen edit periods have closed.
• we publish report generation dates

What happens if the data we submitted is not included in our national CWR reports

If data is submitted after the submission deadline then it will not be included in reports for that month.  It will appear in reports when revisions are processed.

The waiting times reports are generated overnight on the last day of the collection period. It is important to note that once the reports have been generated, these are never changed.

Reports can be thought of as a 'snapshot' of the database, taken at the time they are generated – records added after the report generation date are not included in the report figures.

Trusts need to ensure that all data to be included in reports are uploaded a few days before the submission deadline.

Patients with rare cancers will appear in 62  day standard and 31 day rarer cancer breach scenarios. If the record has breached the 31-day standard it will appear on the 31-day exception report. If it has complied with the 62-day standard it will not appear in the 62-day exception report.

For example, a patient (PT) with rare cancer is treated on day 40, this will breach the 31-day standard, but comply with the 62-day. 

This is an NHS England requirement and multiple other users also requested this.

For enquiries to NHS England about policy and procedure issues including updates on how to record Welsh patients please email [email protected]. 

If both First Seen Provider (FSP)  and DFS are not present in the bulk upload then the record will be accepted, however as the data is incomplete CWT will treat the Treatment Provider as a default FSP and in shared care or IPT scenarios CWT will be unable to apply the ‘new IPT logic’, therefore will default to the 50/50 split in any breach allocations. However, if there is a DFS and no FSP, or if there is FSP and no DFS then CWT will reject the record.

If a record already has IPT data and you wish to update this you can fine the section on the view screen.  

1. Go to patient search.

2. Search for a number 

3. Select view against the record and then scroll to the bottom of the screen.

4. It will list all IPTs with the option to edit the data. 

Up to date org codes can be found on the ODS portal.

Following NHS England advice, some organisations can experience issues if they are submitting the incorrect org codes after a merger.  NHS England have provided the following advice about org codes and merging organisations.

The National Cancer Waiting Times system has a direct feed from ODS which maps sites to trusts at the point the activity took place. So in preparing submissions the relevant site code should be the live site at the point the activity took place and the system will then map the code at that given time. 

If the patient activity started before the merger, for example first seen or treatment the merged trust will need to submit that activity as the pre-merged organisation code and not the new organisation code.

Patient's NHS number are dealt with by the Patient Demographic Service (PDS).  The Cancer Waiting Time system can not accept a NHS number unless the patient is matched to the PDS. If the CWT system does not accept a patient's number we suggest checking the patient's NHS number is correct. 

The current CWT data set XML scheme can be downloaded from the TRUD website. You will need to register for a TRUD account. 

Before contacting the NSD, please ensure you have the following information available which will be required to be able to investigate your issue:

• Are you getting an error on screen If so, please provide a screenshot to help us to fully understand and investigate your query
• the times of when errors have occurred
• is the error intermittent?
• do you have any other CWT users in your trust that can try accessing the links? Are they having the problems too? If so, how many users in your trust are having this problem?

To raise an issue with the Cancer Waiting Times System contact the National Service Desk at NHS Digital:

National Service Desk
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 0300 303 5035

To raise an issue regarding policy, procedure or national statistics contact the Cancer Waiting Times team at NHS England email [email protected].