Utilisation of IMRT treatment across England

The Radiotherapy Data Set (RTDS) is an existing standard requiring all NHS Acute Trust providers of radiotherapy services in England to collect and submit standardised data monthly against a nationally defined dataset. The purpose of the standard is to collect consistent and comparable data across all NHS Acute Trust providers of radiotherapy services in England in order to provide intelligence for service planning, commissioning, clinical practice and research and the operational provision of radiotherapy services across England since April 2009. The management and delivery of the RTDS was the responsibility of the National Clinical Analysis and Specialised Applications Team (NATCANSAT) until 31 March 2016. Public Health England took full responsibility for the RTDS on 1 April 2016.

Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) is a type of conformal radiotherapy which delivers precise radiation doses to a tumour while minimising the dose to surrounding tissue. It uses small beams of varying strength to shape the radiation beams to match the tumour. The data presented in this tool represents the number of IMRT episodes delivered between 1 April 2014 and 31 March 2021. Data is not presented from 2009 as treatment intent only became a mandatory field in April 2014. Intent is required to identify IMRT.

The completeness of radiotherapy activity data varies by trust. Figures reported in the tool may differ from previously reported activity.

The tool presents radiotherapy activity data across Cancer Alliances in England. The Cancer Alliance names refer to the geographical footprint they cover, accurate as of July 2021. The number of radiotherapy trusts associated to each Cancer Alliance varies across England. Cancer Alliance names may differ from those used in other publications.

Financial year is the period used for reporting radiotherapy activity, running from 1st April to 31st March. The years included in the tool range from 2014-2015 to 2021-2022.

The primary tumour diagnosis code (or the main condition being treated) is classified using the 10th edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10), a medical classification list produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO). ICD 10 codes have been grouped. ICD-09 radiotherapy diagnosis codes have been mapped to ICD-10 to aid consistency and interpretation.