Improving Quality and Timeliness of Cancer Registry Data feeding into the European Cancer Information System

ongoing

Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan aims to better utilize data and digital technologies in the quest to understand and reduce the burden of cancer. The European Knowledge Center on Cancer including the European Cancer Information System (ECIS) is a key initiative. Aggregated cancer data in ECIS are essential to monitor and understand cancer trends, but also to support cancer policy and research. The data must be population-based, of high quality, comparable across countries, and recent. Such data are provided by the cancer registries within the European Network of Cancer Registries. However, there is great variety in the quality, completeness, breadth and timeliness of the population-based cancer registry (PBCR) data across Europe. CancerWatch JA aims to address cancer registry quality and timeliness and make the data-driven insights available via the ECIS as well as the emerging European Health Data Space infrastructure. The European Cancer Inequalities Registry will also benefit from better registry data. This Joint Action will be identifying opportunities to improve operation of the registries and their means to utilize digital methods to capture cancer data residing in the healthcare organizations. It will address harmonized means to measure quality and facilitate data access and finally, it will provide means to provide indicators on the burden of cancer via the ECIS.