The performance indicators aim to provide a comprehensive picture of the performance of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in Australia, and were designed with the future in mind. At the time these performance indicators were developed, the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program was still in its infancy and biennial screening was not yet phased in.
Some indicators are aspirational, in that there is either a lack of national data or a lack of completeness of data. For some indicators, further maturity of the program will assist with the completeness of data.
NBCSP Performance Indicators| PBSF step (a) | No. | Program performance indicator | Related NBCSP Objective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Recruitment | 1 | Participation rate | Q2, O5, O6 |
| Screening | 2 | Screening positively rate | O1,O3,O4 |
| Assessment | 3 | Diagnostic assessment rate | O2, O3, O4 |
| Diagnosis | 5a | Adenoma detection rate | O1, O3, O4 |
| Diagnosis | 5b | The positive predictive value of diagnostic assessment for detecting adenoma | O1,O4 |
| Diagnosis | 6a | Colorectal cancer detection rate | O1,O4 |
| Diagnosis | 6b | The positive predictive value of diagnostic assessment for detecting colorectal cancer | O1,O4 |
| Diagnosis | 7 | Interval cancer rate | O1, O4 |
| Diagnosis | 8b | Cancer clinic-pathological stage distribution | O1, O4 |
| Outcomes | 9b | Adverse events-hospital admission | O3, O4 |
| Outcomes | 10c | Incidence of colorectal cancer | O6 |
| Outcomes | 11c | Mortality from colorectal cancer | O6 |
- PBSF stands for The Australian Population Based Screening Framework stages. For more information see Box 1.3 in the Technical report on the development of the Performance Indicators.
- Indicators 8 and 9 are aspirational performance indicators (performance indicators where data are not currently available; however, when data are available, they would be reported).
- Indicators 10 and 11 are contextual performance indicators (performance indicators not specific to the NBCSP, but provide context on the burden of bowel cancer in Australia, which may be related to bowel screening activity and outcomes).
A technical report on the development of the Performance Indicators is available on the AIHW website.