Linkage was carried out previously by the Public Health England National Cancer Intelligence Network to support public reporting of data on cancer patient experience.a Records of English Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) 2010 responders were matched using NHS number to the National Cancer Data Repository (NCDR) 2010 table. Of the 67 713 responders to CPES, 64 815 (95.7%) were matched to 82 788 tumours in the NCDR dataset, with some patients being matched to multiple tumours. A total of 2898 (4.3%) could not be matched to a tumour in the NCDR dataset. Among matched cases, linkage validity was checked using date of birth and found to be perfect in most cases, with plausible partial matches in nearly all of the non-perfectly matched cases. ‘Routes to Diagnosis’ codes were assigned using the most recent tumour in the NCDR dataset with a diagnostic route code. No diagnostic route was available for 8452 of CPES responders matched to the NCDR dataset, leaving 56 363 CPES records (83.2% of all CPES records). A substantial proportion of unlinked cases relate to diagnoses outside of the period covered by the ‘Routes to Diagnosis’ source (2006–2010), with 43% of unlinked responders indicating that their cancer was diagnosed >5 years ago. |