The New South Wales Cancer Registry
Recent releases
Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008 (19 December 2008) (media release and publication)
National Bowel Cancer Screening Program monitoring report 2008 (19 December 2008) (media release and publication)
Non-melanoma skin cancer: General practice consultations, hospitalisation and mortality (15 October 2008) (media release and publication)
Popular titles
 Australia's health 2008 |
 Australia's welfare 2007 |
What is the Cancer Registry?
The NSW Central Cancer Registry is the agency established under the Public Health Act to receive notifications of cancer in New South Wales. The Registry is managed by the NSW Cancer Council for the NSW Department of Health. The Cancer Registry maintains a Register of all cases of cancer diagnosed in NSW since the beginning of 1972.
All information sent to the Registry is kept confidential, is held under tight security and is protected by the Public Health Act.
What information is on the Register?
Information is collected about patients with cancer and includes:
- name and address
- date of birth
- country of birth
- whether the person is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent
- clinical details about the cancer
- the notifying institution and doctor.
Personal details, such as name and address, are needed to ensure that accurate information is recorded for each person and that each new cancer is only counted once in the statistics. However, these details are kept strictly confidential. Generally, non-melanoma skin cancers are not recorded on the the register.
Who has access to information on the Register?
The Registry publishes regular reports showing numbers of cases and rates of different types of cancer in summary form. These reports do not disclose any identifying information of cancer patients and are available to anyone. More detailed information (that also does not disclose any identifying information) is made available to the NSW Department of Health, health care institutions, health professionals and health researchers. Bonafide health and medical researchers can apply to obtain information about identified cancer patients. Access is given when certain stringent criteria are met. This criteria can be obtained from the Cancer Registry.
Additional information
A pamphlet outlining the information listed on this page, and additional information on what the information on the Register is used for, can be obtained by contacting the Cancer Registry.