2017 Cancer system performance report

June 28, 2017

Learn about the quality, equity, seamlessness of patient experience, and sustainability of Canada’s system for cancer control, as well as the impact of data

This 2017 Cancer system performance report describes the quality, equity, seamlessness and sustainability of Canada’s system for cancer control:

• Quality refers to the effectiveness of care.
• Equity refers to the absence of sociodemographic barriers (such as socioeconomic, place of residence and immigrant statuses) to access effective cancer control.
• Seamlessness refers to an integrated, person-centred approach that lets patients and their families easily understand, access and navigate the cancer system.
• Sustainability refers to meeting the population’s health-care needs in a way that optimizes the balance between resource use and patient outcomes.
• Maximizing the impact of data refers to making system performance information more readily available.

Improving care in those five areas will help us achieve a future where fewer people get cancer, fewer people die from cancer and more people with cancer experience better quality of life.

This report also highlights gaps in existing data. Making system performance information more readily available will help us tell a more complete story about cancer control’s current state.

Quick facts from this 2017 report

• The rates at which Canadians are diagnosed with and die from prostate, lung, breast and colorectal cancer have decreased.
• Cancer prevention practices vary across populations.
• Access to cancer treatment may be affected by where patients live. Not all individuals have access to the cancer treatments and care services that best suit needs.
• Cancer outcomes differ across at-risk groups. In 2012, 70 out of 100,000 people at the lowest income level died of lung cancer, compared with 43 out of 100,000 at the highest income level.
• The lowest-income populations are more likely to get lung and colorectal cancer. However, the opposite is true for breast cancer.
• Canadians may wait over three months for a cancer diagnosis after an abnormal screen.
• Cancer patients are receiving radiation therapy quickly.
• Two-thirds of patients die in hospital , even though many would prefer to die at home.
• At least one-third of cancers can be prevented.  Many types of cancer can be prevented through a combination of eliminating tobacco use, improving nutrition, limiting alcohol consumption, participating in regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy body weight.

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