Cancer registration is the systematic collection of data on every new diagnosis of cancer and certain non-cancerous tumours. The procedure is widely established throughout the world.

Thames Cancer Registry collects data from a variety of sources: hospitals, including some private hospitals – drawing, for example, from hospital patient information systems, pathology laboratories, multi-disciplinary teams, radiotherapy databases - hospices; cancer screening programmes. Other cancer registries notify TCR of residents treated outside the area. The Office for National Statistics supply us with death notifications for all cases where cancer is mentioned as a cause of death. We also have access to hospital episode statistics; and cancer waiting time data. We proactively seek out all possible sources of information on new cancer cases.

Registration involves a complex process of clinical data linkage, consolidation and quality assurance. To ensure that the correct information is recorded for each patient, we collect patient identifiable details to enable us to cross-check records. We take very seriously the responsibility of holding identifiable patient data and have strict policies in place governing the handling, processing and transfer of patient data, to uphold patient and carer confidentiality.

An important role of the registries is to collect the national minimum data set for cancer registration to feed the National Cancer Registration Scheme operated by the Office for National Statistics. Thames Cancer Registry is also working to put systems in place to receive and process the extended set of data items for the cancer registration section of the National Cancer Dataset.