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Information Services Division: Scotland

Macmillan-ISD Scottish Cancer Pathways

NHS Scotland’s Information Services Division (ISD) of Public Health & Intelligence Scotland brings together specialists to translate information into evidence for action to protect and improve the health of the people of Scotland. Intelligence is gathered from a broad range of sources to provide national level advice and leadership to protect the health of the people of Scotland. They develop patient level activity data into information and intelligence to support the delivery and planning of health and social care services.

Macmillan Cancer Support and ISD are working in partnership to use data to improve the understanding of the impact and cost of cancer and its treatment, and aim to:

  • Deliver insightful analysis of Scotland cancer data to support improved design, testing and implementation of better models of care
  • Identify gaps and opportunities to deliver world class data collection and analysis for improved outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer
  • Participate in similar initiatives and partnerships in the other nations by providing Scotland-specific analysis for UK-wide use of evidence.

Partnership updates

Macmillan-ISD workplan

The objectives of the current workplan are to:

  • Produce the externally available Local Cancer Intelligence (LCI) tool, allowing data to be accessed at the national, network, health board and local authority level. It will provide data on prevalence, incidence, mortality, patient experience, and deprivation.
  • Develop a survivorship outcome framework, Scottish Routes from Diagnosis, that maps patient pathway experiences, describes survivorship morbidity and health outcomes, and identifies how patient characteristics influence the diversity of outcomes within and between cancer sites.
  • Work with health boards to explore drivers in survival variation across cancer sites, and potentially produce profiles that facilitate collaborative learning.
  • Investigate cancer outcomes, experiences, and pathways in remote and rural areas across Scotland using the urban / rural index and travel times.

If you would like to find out more about the work plan, or if you work in a related area and want to share your insights, please contact Cheryl Denny, Principal Information Analyst, ISD, or Claire LeBlanc, Evaluation and Impact Analyst.

Deprivation and cancer survival in Scotland

Survival analysis by deprivation, sex and cancer site were produced for the 20 most common cancers in Scotland (2013 incidence).

Multivariate analysis was carried out where cancer types demonstrated statistically significant variation between the most deprived and least deprived for one-year survival and five-year survival.

The research below sheds light on the drivers of variation, such as:

  • stage at diagnosis
  • access and use of screening programmes
  • co-morbidities.

Deprivation and survival analysis reports

Scottish Routes from Diagnosis

Date published: February 2020

In Scotland, there are huge variations in patient pathways and needs following a cancer diagnosis. Scottish Routes from Diagnosis uses data shared by patients and collected by the NHS to better understand these variations.

In partnership with Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland, we linked and analysed data on the experiences of over 31,000 people in Scotland diagnosed with breast, colorectal, lung or prostate cancer in 2007 and in 2012. We then developed ‘Survivorship Outcome Groups’ (OGs) – robust definitions of health outcomes that can apply across and within cancer types. The findings will be used to inform service development, helping the healthcare system adapt to the reality of living with cancer in Scotland today.

Explore the data through ISD’s interactive tool.

Read the reports and explore:

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