The National Radiotherapy Waiting Times Database is a collation of records related to courses of radiotherapy that began in a reference period. The data collected includes administrative details, patient demographic characteristics and some clinical information. The database was primarily designed to enable reporting of waiting times for radiotherapy services which are calculated as the time between the patient's ready-for-care date and the date of the first megavoltage external beam radiotherapy treatment.

Collection details

Temporal coverage

1/7/2015 to 30/6/2019

Geographical coverage

National and State

Data availability

  • Publications

Client specified tables on request which may be subject to data provider approval (charges apply).

Restricted unit record access subject to Ethics Committee approval and/or the agreement of all relevant data custodians in all states and territories (charges may apply).

Data scope

Establishments in scope are those healthcare establishments that provide megavoltage external beam radiotherapy treatment (in-scope radiotherapy treatment). Both public and private establishments are in scope. While it is mandatory for public establishments to report data to the national minimum data set (NMDS), private providers are also encouraged to participate.

The scope is not limited by patient diagnosis: it includes people with cancer (notifiable and non-notifiable) and people who do not have cancer.
People in scope are those who started a course of radiotherapy treatment within the reference period.

For public establishments, all in-scope activity should be reported, including services provided by specialists operating under right of private practice arrangements.

Methodology

Admin data

Official

Metadata information and data quality statement (DQS)

Data source with links to all NMDS, DSS, and DQS

External links and information 

Radiotherapy in Australia 2018–19

Radiotherapy in Australia 2017-18

Contact

[email protected]