Overview
The BCCOM project aims to develop mechanisms to improve the collection of data for symptomatic breast cancer and to audit the management of these cancers in the UK. The data is obtained by tapping into existing sources such as the data currently collected by cancer registries. These data are then analysed to generate information on the clinical outcome of individual breast services. This allows the comparison of current practise at a surgical, hospital and regional level with national management guidelines and accepted best practise. The data collected are fed back to participating surgeons and also to the wider breast management team. This unique collection of data could improve breast cancer service provision and patient outcomes.
The feasibility of the BCCOM project was tested first in the West Midlands and then extended to all 11 UK cancer registries. The results of this work indicated that locally collected data can be combined with data supplied by cancer registries to produce high quality outcome measures on the detection and management of all breast cancer.
Currently, data on the diagnosis and treatment of the cases of symptomatic breast cancer diagnosed in 2004 are being analysed. In addition, the management of the 47,266 cases of breast cancer submitted in the first 3 years of the project is being studied. BCCOM now has the participation of all 11 cancer registries in the UK.
Contact
Dr Gill Lawrence
Email: Gill Lawrence
Tel: +44 0121 415 8129
