The NLCA Quality Improvement priorities were developed in consultation with stakeholders in the Clinical Reference Group and are described in the NLCA Quality Improvement Plan.
Download the NLCA Quality Improvement Plan NLCA MetricsThe NLCA Quality Improvement goals are:
- Improve early diagnosis of lung cancer
- Increase the proportion of patients who receive treatment with curative intent
- Increase the proportion of people with lung cancer receiving Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy (SACT) and reduce unwarranted variation in access to SACT
- Improve the quality of the patient pathway
- Improve and reduce variation in lung cancer outcomes
Early Signal Reporting
The introduction of quarterly reporting offers a new perspective on the performance of NHS trusts. In particular, it is now possible to identify a change over time which may reflect an emerging problem. However, by using rapid cancer registration data, there is always the possibility that unusual results arise by chance, or from factors affecting data quality. We therefore propose an informal process to flag unusual results to providers. We recommend providers investigate the flagged indicators, either because the figures look unusually poor or good. This process is known as `Early Signal Reporting’.
The method of identifying early signals is designed to detect either a NHS trust whose performance has recently changed, or one that is consistently different to the national average.
If a trust is contacted, they are first asked to check whether the data on patient numbers is consistent with their own records, and to improve data submissions to the cancer registration service should they differ. If the data is correct the trust is asked whether they are already aware of anything that may have resulted in the early signal, and to establish whether the data have revealed a real underlying issue, an example of excellent practice or an effective quality improvement initiative.
Introduction to Quality Improvement
Links to organisations providing essential reading and background to Quality Improvement
| Royal College of Surgeons of England | Quality Improvement in Surgery |
| Royal College of Radiology | Quality Improvement in Clinical Radiology |
| Health Foundation | Quality Improvement resources and publications |
| HQIP (Professionals) | Introduction to quality improvement for healthcare professionals |
| HQIP (Patients) | Introduction to quality improvement for patients and public |
| National Institute of Clinical Excellence | Putting evidence based guidance into practice |
| NHS Wales | Improvement Cymru |
Quality Improvement Methods and Tools
Links to useful Quality Improvement methods and tools including templates
| NHS England | Making data count |
| Institute for healthcare improvement | Model for ImprovementQuality Improvement essentials toolkit |
| HQIP | Good governance handbook |
| HQIP | Clinical audit: a guide for NHS Boards and partners |
| HQIP | A guide to quality improvement tools |
| National Institute of Clinical Excellence | Quality Improvement resources for commissioners |
National Quality Improvement programmes
National programmes working to improve the quality of care and use the findings from the NLCA to underpin their work
| National Clinical Audit Benchmarking | Benchmarked NLCA data utilised for CQC hospital inspections |