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.
Read the report:
- Cohort Summary [PDF]
- Context and methodology [PDF]
- Results: The cohorts up close [PDF]
- Discussion [PDF]
You can also explore the data through ISD’s interactive tool.
Key findings:
- More people are surviving their cancer than ever before, with some recovering to a state of health that was very similar to pre-diagnosis. But others have ongoing needs stemming from the effects of cancer and its treatment. Most notably, more people are experiencing cancer as a long-term condition.
- Five years after diagnosis, more than a third of people (36%) had experienced a new diagnosis of cancer, or were living with cancer that had never been cured or had spread.
- There is a huge variation in health outcomes between cancer types, and in people with the same cancer type:
- In people with breast, prostate or colorectal cancer, five years after diagnosis almost 40% had experienced a new diagnosis of cancer, or were living with cancer that had never been cured or had spread. This is compared to just 27% of lung cancer patients.
- Around two thirds (65%) of people diagnosed with lung cancer died within a year, compared to only 6% of breast cancer patients, 8% of prostate cancer patients and 27% of colorectal cancer patients.
