Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) data set

The SACT data set collects information on the use of systemic anti-cancer therapies across all NHS England trusts.

Systemic anti-cancer therapies, including chemotherapy, have been provided in the NHS for decades but no national recording of treatment had previously existed. SACT data collection started in 2012 and became mandatory for all NHS trusts in England in 2014. 

SACT treatments are increasingly successful but are ever more complex and expensive. Accurate, timely and complete data collection to support optimal use is a priority. The SACT data set is a unique tool capturing this information on a national scale.

What the SACT data set offers

The SACT data set is an important initiative with a wide range of benefits. It has been designed to:

• provide a clear picture of patterns of systemic anti-cancer therapy use across England
• understand resources required for service provision and support commissioning decisions
• link to other data sources, to provide a complete picture of the cancer patient pathway

 What the SACT data set includes

The SACT data set contains 44 data items which cover:

• patient and tumour characteristics
• trust and consultant details
• treatment characteristics including drug names and drug combinations (regimens)
• outcome fields

SACT Information is reported by NHS trusts on the treatment of all patients with cancer

The data set includes details of:

• adult and paediatric patients
• acute inpatient, outpatient and community settings
• all solid and haematological malignancies
• patients in clinical trials

Management of the SACT data set

The SACT data set is collected by the National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) at NHS England. This is made possible by legal permission granted to NDRS. There are strict and careful controls ensuring that the data can only be used to inform improvements in patient care.

The SACT team is the central collation point for all SACT data submissions in England and is responsible for management and quality assurance of the data, and for providing support to submitting trusts. 

NDRS provide an analytical function to produce a range of outputs using SACT data and make these available to key stakeholders. We share our outputs with the clinical community and seek feedback to ensure they align with clinical needs.

Data collected is used to create several data tools, dashboards, and reports and have provided more detail below.

CancerStats2 report platform (NHS staff only)

Please note, CancerStats2* is an additional tool available to NHS staff with an account. The CancerStats2* reporting platform (opens in a new window) gives registered users access to interactive SACT data reports. The portal does not provide identifiable data but it does have detailed local data. To ensure this data is secure it is only available through the NHS Health and Social Care Network (HSCN). Users must register on the homepage.

Reviewing national SACT activity

The public-facing SACT Activity dashboard is updated quarterly and presents SACT activity metrics relating to patients treated with SACT in England from January 2019 to the latest data available. The dashboard includes patient, regimen, new regimen, and drug administration counts. Counts can be viewed nationally, by cancer alliance, and by integrated care board and can be broken down by tumour group, age group, deprivation quintile, ethnicity, intent or treatment, and administration route. 

The CancerStats2* activity dashboard (opens in a new window) contains results at trust and cancer alliance level, alongside more detailed activity metrics for England.  

Assessing the time to first treatment for new SACT drugs

The SACT time to first treatment (TTFT) dashboard reports the time taken for patients to be treated with SACT drugs that have been approved for routine commissioning use in the NHS following NICE approval.  The public-facing TTFT dashboard contains results at trust and cancer alliance level, alongside a summary measure for England.

30-day mortality post-SACT analyses

The public  30-day mortality post-SACT Case-Mix Adjusted Rates (CMAR) report includes patients diagnosed with cancer in England and treated with SACT. Each report focuses on a defined cancer type and treatment period and uses data submitted by NHS trusts in England through their monthly routine SACT data uploads. The CMAR reports use funnel plots and tables to show rates of deaths within 30 days of SACT treatment for NHS trusts in England. 

Access the 30-day mortality post-SACT CMAR dashboard where you can find 30-day mortality reports by cancer site and find out more about the analyses. 

We also provide a quarterly 30-day mortality post-SACT data feed to NHS trusts who request to receive the information. The Rapid Data Review provides each NHS trust with a list of patients who, according to the data we hold, have died within 30 days of receiving SACT during the previous quarter. This information can be used to support internal trust mortality reviews. 

If you work at an NHS trust and would like to find out more, please email The Helpdesk. 

* Please note that the CancerStats2 platform requires an N3/HSCN secure network connection. 

Explore more outputs and the journal library for publications produced by the NDRS.

NDRS data is made available to authorised analysts and researchers under our data access arrangements through the Data Access and Release Service (DARS). 

Find out how you can access SACT and NDRS data on the Access to NDRS data webpage. 

The table below gives the deadline for NHS trusts to upload and submit data to the NDRS upload portal each month.

The requirements below are applicable every month:

We recommend that NHS trusts upload their file as early as possible in the month to allow plenty of time to fix errors and map regimens. Uploading a file on the last day will mean that a trust may not have time to fix errors, and therefore could be uncompliant for various measures.

If a file becomes “Ready to Submit” at any point during this process, then we advise the NHS trust to submit the file as early as possible.

For more details please contact the helpdesk ([email protected])

The formal consultation on the SACT data set version 4 closed on Wednesday 11 December; we would like to thank everyone who took the time to review the new data set and supporting guidance and provide helpful feedback.

We reviewed and incorporated your feedback as appropriate and are now working through the NHS England Data Alliance Partnership, the governance structure that oversees the assurance and approval of information standards.

We are on track with seeking approval for the new SACT Information Standard by autumn 2025, with roll-out planned to commence in April 2026.

Each quarter, we share the latest news from the NDRS SACT data set team, including SACT reports and outputs, data set development, SACT data set Community updates, Cancer Drugs Fund updates, and SACT data set events. 

To keep up to date, subscribe to our newsletter. 

We know that when you pass your personal details to us, you are trusting us to keep them safe. We will do everything within our power to do this. The data you share with us will only be used for sending you the newsletter through the mailing list you sign up to. No personal information will be shared with any third-party service providers. You can unsubscribe from this mailing list by following the link in any of the emails you receive.

The SACT data set also underpins the work of the NHSE partnership on Cancer Data, and the Cancer Drugs Fund.

This partnership uses NCRAS data sets, including the information submitted by trusts to the SACT data set on current routine care, to inform improvements in service provision and clinical practice.

More information on the work of NDRS partnerships can be found on the our work section of this website. 

You can find out more about the methodologies applied when using the SACT data set to evaluate CDF treatments in the downloads section.

The SACT team at NDRS is here to help and values feedback and suggestions for improvements to SACT.

Our team provides tailored support to NHS trusts with any issues around submitting data and to support improvements in data quality and completeness. If you would like to contact the team, then please contact The Helpdesk via [email protected] or on 0113 518 0696. 

The formal consultation on the SACT data set version 4 closed on Wednesday 11 December; we would like to thank everyone who took the time to review the new data set and supporting guidance and provide helpful feedback.

We reviewed and incorporated your feedback as appropriate and are now working through the NHS England Data Alliance Partnership, the governance structure that oversees the assurance and approval of information standards.

We are on track with seeking approval for the new SACT Information Standard by autumn 2025, with roll-out planned to commence in April 2026.