Table 1 Practice, detection and referral characteristics of the two databases

From: General practice performance in referral for suspected cancer: influence of number of cases and case-mix on publicly reported data

 

Northeast Scotland

NHS England

 

Number

%

Number

%

Practice list size

(N=77)

 

(N=6735)

 

<3000

16

20.8

628

9.3

3001–6000

16

20.8

2121

31.5

6001–12000

34

44.2

3079

45.7

>12 000

11

14.3

907

13.5

Age-standardised annual referral ratio a

<0.8

30

39.0

1936

28.7

0.8–1.0

30

39.0

3113

46.2

>1.2

17

22.1

1686

25.0

Overall rates b

Mean

s.d.c

Mean

s.d.

Detection rate

0.382

0.098

0.477

0.085

Conversion rate

0.178

0.058

0.124

0.057

Detection rate by number of cases

25–75 cases

0.361

0.087

0.485

0.085

76–150 cases

0.353

0.072

0.464

0.073

151–400 cases

0.389

0.057

0.468

0.064

  1. aThe indirectly standardised number of referrals via the urgent suspected cancer pathway relative to a practice’s size and age and sex composition.
  2. bRates for NHS Grampian data include all 7 years (2006–2012).
  3. cStandard deviation.
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