The UKIACR aims to promote and develop cancer registration in England, Wales, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
It specifically provides a:
- focus for national initiatives in cancer registration
- coherent voice for representation of cancer registries in the United Kingdom and Ireland
- channel for liaison between registries and for agreeing policy on matters connected with cancer registration
- framework to facilitate the operation of special-interest groups and regional registries
- means of stimulating the development of cancer registration, information procedures and practices, and research based on cancer registry data
The UKIACR has, through consensus, developed cancer registration and the contribution it can make to health care by:
- working to improve the consistency and accuracy of cancer registration data, through the resolution of coding and classification issues
- helping to ensure the availability of timely, accurate cancer statistics for England by agreeing the complex interface document for transmission of data to and from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
- taking steps to improve quality assurance through the development of national performance indicators
- working to improve standards in the training of registry staff through the production of a training manual, cancer-specific training packs and the organisation of study days
- taking steps to ensure that the confidentiality of patient-specific and potentially identifiable data is protected, by developing comprehensive guidelines for data release
- working to improve the usefulness of cancer registration data through the development of guidelines for the standardisation of reported results and the establishment of a forum for sharing the latest epidemiological research
The UKIACR has a pivotal role in ensuring that its members are fully represented with regard to any legislation or national issues that may have implications for cancer registration. These include: the approval by parliament of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002, exempting certain essential NHS activities from the need for informed consent, and the introduction of NHS Connecting for Health.
The UKIACR is also represented on the National Cancer Registration Advisory Group (NCRAG) chaired by the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards. NCRAG was established to give advice on priorities, targets and performance against targets to the Department of Health and therefore only relates to cancer registration in England.
For further information about the specific objectives of the UKIACR, please see the Constitution.