Macmillan Cancer Support

Since 2012 NCRAS and Macmillan Cancer Support have been working together on a wide range of projects to understand the numbers, needs and experiences of people living with cancer in England. 

The workplan has included estimating how many people are living with cancer through the work on cancer prevalence, how many are living with ‘treatable but not curable’ cancer, and analysis of the population seen by each trust in England. The partnership aims to build the evidence base on the needs and support requirements of people living with cancer, for example through analysis of Holistic Needs Assessment data and analysis of emergency admissions towards end of life.  We also aim to understand health inequalities within cancer treatment and care and variation in cancer treatment and care for example, looking at the impact of sexual orientation and first language on cancer outcomes.

This work adds to the evidence base on the cancer population directly and through stimulating further research.  Macmillan uses the evidence to set its priorities and help its work with policy makers and service providers so they can better support people living with cancer. Another of the partnership aims is to build on the understanding and awareness of cancer among the general public.      

Macmillan also has a similar partnership with Public Health Scotland and has also worked on several key projects with the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit and the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry.

You can find out more about the other Macmillan data partnerships on the Macmillan website. 

The partnership has an evolving programme of work but the main areas of focus include:

1. Understanding the national Holistic Needs Assessment data and how it can be used to understand who is receiving an assessment and Personalised Care and Support Plan. Holistic Needs Assessments are explained further on the Macmillan website..
2. Understanding the treatable but not curable cancer population to draw attention to this group and their needs by sizing the population.  You can read about how the 'treatable but not curable' cancer population are defined and the types of support they often need on the Macmillan website.
3. Developing data set linkage to help better understand people living with cancer. This has included linking data with the results of the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) and plans to link with mental health data sets. To find out more visit the CPES page on this website. Using the linked CPES data we are producing analysis of cancer outcomes usch as early diagnosis and survival broken down by sexual orientation and having English as a first or second language.
4. Understanding the impact of cancer on the lives of people living with cancer. For example, through the analysis of the cancer-related inpatient and outpatient episodes, and all A&E attendances, experienced by people living with cancer across the first 5 years after a cancer diagnosis.

The partnership has produced a number of outputs linked to the work programme. The following links will take you to key articles and information pages:

1. Augarde, L and others. Using hospital data to understand secondary care activity in the 5 years after a cancer diagnosis. Poster at Health and Care Analytics conference 2024.
2. NHS Digital and Macmillan Cancer Support. Data summarizing the number of cancer diagnosis Trust in England' Novemeber 2022.

3. White R, Stanley F, Than J and others. Treatable but not curable cancer in England: a retrospective cohort study using cancer registry data and linked data sets BMJ Open 2021;11:e040808. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2020-040808

4. The Macmillan-NCRAS partnership along with the other registries of the UK collaborated on initial work on cancer prevalence (this link opens in a new tab). This has now been incorporated into NDRS's standard publication and is availbale on the Cancer data hub.
5. Pethick J, Chen C, Charnock J, Bowden R, Tzala E. Inpatient admissions and outpatient appointments in the first year post cancer diagnosis: A population based study from England. Cancer Epidemiol. 2021 Oct;74:102003. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2021.102003. Epub 2021 Aug 20. PMID: 34425383

For many other data tables and previous outputs visit the archived NCIN website. 

For more information, please contact [email protected]