Queensland Cancer Register

The Queensland Cancer Register (QCR) operates under the Public Health Act (PHA) 2005 to receive information of cancer in Queensland. The QCR maintains a register of all cases of cancer diagnosed in Queensland since 1982 (excluding basal and squamous cell carcinomas). The QCR is one of the largest population based cancer registries in Australia and is a unique data resource bringing the most comprehensive set of cancer data elements together to provide an accurate picture of cancer in Queensland. 

The Cancer Alliance Queensland on behalf of Metro South Hospital and Health Service manages the operation of the Register for the Queensland Department of Health.

Download the printable QCR brochure.

 

How is cancer notified?

Notification of cancer is a statutory requirement for all public and private hospitals, nursing homes and pathology services throughout Queensland. Over 90% of cancer notifications are now being received electronically.

Specifications for notifiers submitting electronic cancer notifications:

Public Hospitals
Private Hospitals
Public and Private Pathology Laboratories
Public and Private Nursing Homes

If your facility provides cancer notifications in hard copy, download QCR Notification form and send to QCR@health.qld.gov.au

 

What information is collected?

Information collected about patients with cancer includes:

  • Demographic information (Name, sex, address, date of birth, Medicare number, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and country of birth)
  • Cancer Diagnosis (Cancer site and cell type, grade, stage, date of diagnosis and other clinico-pathological details which describe the cancer)
  • Information about the patient's hospital stay (Name of hospital admitted, date of admission and separation)
  • Mortality information (Date of death, cause of death and location of death)

For a complete list of data items collected by the QCR download the QCR Notification form.

 

How can the information be used?

Information collected by the QCR is used to produce online statistics, reports and publications. This information can be used to describe cancer incidence, mortality, projections, prevalence and survival for Queensland.

Data can be specifically used for the following purposes:

  • Monitor the number of new cancer cases and deaths from cancer in Queensland
  • Assist in planning for the care of cancer patients in Queensland
  • Monitor and evaluate the quality of cancer treatment and the outcomes of cancer care
  • Provide data for research to determine the cause of cancer and to improve the quality of cancer services
  • Contribute to national monitoring of cancer cases and cancer deaths
  • Develop programs to educate our community on the risks of cancer

 

What type of information can be provided?

Information about the number of cancer cases and deaths from cancer are published regularly and are freely available through online statistical tools such as OASys, data tables or reports. Aggregate data such as age group, sex and cancer site is available in the public domain.

Requests for information about identified cancer cases require application under the Public Health Act (PHA) 2005.  Strict criteria must be met in accordance with this Act. Each request for data access is assessed by the data custodian against legislation and privacy laws.  These procedures are in place to protect personal information recorded in the register from breaches of privacy as well as ensuring ethical integrity and scientific merit of proposals seeking data access.

 

How is the information collected and stored?

QCCAT has developed a sophisticated data collection application known as QOOL-R. All information sent to the register is kept strictly confidential and held under tight security. For more information on system security and storage policies go to Tech Talk and Security.

 

QOOL-R the QCR application

QCCAT recently conducted one of the first and most comprehensive revisions of the Queensland Cancer Register rules and technology since the late 1990s. QCCAT adopted new technology and advanced standards to ensure high quality cancer data.  In May 2017, QCR’s legacy database was formally decommissioned and replaced with a new sophisticated data collection application, built by QCCAT and known as QOOL-R. QOOL-R electronically collects and collates information for the register.

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QOOL-R contains patient demographic, cancer diagnosis, stage and death information from a range of electronic sources including pathology, hospital notifications and the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages.  This information is pre-populated in QOOL-R for the coders to verify, minimising the effort of manual data entry and increasing accuracy. The QOOL-R implementation has been a success with coders adapting to the new system and processes very quickly. QOOL-R allows for a faster delivery of diagnostic information into the register and enables easy tracking of our coding progress.

The QOOL-R application better aligns to current medical understanding and more adequately reflects the diagnosis and treatment patterns we see today for Queensland cancer patients, regarding the capture of the type and number of cancer cases. The new rules allow a more complete accounting of cancer incidence and mortality.

QOOL-R provides higher quality cancer data in line and consistent with, cancer data reporting standards throughout Queensland and Australia.

 

More information

For more information about the Queensland Cancer Register or if you would like to view additional publications contact us QCR@health.qld.gov.au