DCB0147: National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set

The National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set collects data which is used to monitor NHS providers’ compliance with the government’s operational standards for ensuring that cancer services are delivered to patients in a timely manner.

About this information standard

The National Cancer Waiting Times Monitoring Data Set (NCWTMDS) is used to:

monitor timed pathways of care for cancer patients
manage pathways of care for cancer patients
performance manage elective services for cancer patients
report against the requirements of the NHS Operating Framework for cancer waiting times
support the right to access cancer services within the NHS Constitution
produce national, official and local statistics for cancer patients
support investment planning for cancer services.

This information standard is published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. An Information Standards Notice (see below) provides an overview of scope and implementation timescales, and the other documents provide further detail for those who have to implement the information standard.

Update 17 December 2020: At the time of publication of version 2.1 (2 April 2020) the implementation and conformance dates of this standard were noted by the Data Coordination Board as being subject to change depending on the need for continuing frontline investment in COVID-19 activity.

As of 17 December 2020, the conformance date has been extended by one month and full conformance is now expected with the submission of the December 2020 reporting activity between 6 January 2021 and 2 February 2021. The Requirements Specification, Change Specification and Implementation Guidance have been updated to reflect this and the updated copies are available below (dated December 2020).

Current release

Release date	2 April 2020
Release number	Amd 16/2019
Release title	Version 2.1
Stage	Implementation
Key documents	Information Standards Notice (Amd 16/2019) Requirements specification (Amd 16/2019) (December 2020) [Archive Content] Implementation guidance (Amd 16/2019) (December 2020) Change specification (Amd 16/2019) (December 2020) Change specification - Appendix 1 (Amd 16/2019)
Supporting documents	NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Request 1716 (Amd 16/2019) NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Request 1716 (Data Set (Amd 16/2019) XML Schema (external site; login required)
Further information	Further guidance is published by NHS Digital

Previous releases

Release date	5 October 2017
Release number	Amd 89/2016
Release title	Version 2.0
Stage	Maintenance
Key documents	Requirements specification (Amd 89/2016) Implementation guidance (Amd 89/2016) Change specification (Amd 89/2016) Information Standards Notice (Amd 89/2016)
Supporting documents	Data Set items (Change Specification - Appendix 1) (Amd 89/2016) [Archive Content] NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Request 1589 (Basic CR) (Amd 89/2016) NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Request 1589 (Data Set CR) (Amd 89/2016) XML Schema (external site; login required)

Release date	30 October 2015
Release number	Amd 7/2015
Release title	Version 1.2
Stage	Retirement
Key documents	Requirements specification (Amd 7/2015) Implementation guidance (Amd 7/2015) Change specification v1.2 (Amd 7/2015)ce v1.2 Corrigendum (Amd 7/2015)
Supporting documents	NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Request 1300 (Basic CR) (Amd 7/2015) NHS Data Model and Dictionary Change Request 1300 (Data Set CR) (Amd 7/2015)

Further information

Cancer Waiting Times Data Collection (CWT)

The national cancer waiting times system collects data about how cancer patients move through stages of their treatment, which is then used to monitor performance against targets, and to help plan services locally.

Last edited: 6 January 2021 10:19 am