An audit into use of minimum dataset reporting of skin cancers in the North of England Cancer Network

AimWe report an audit of skin cancers reported by pathologists across the North of England Cancer Network.MethodWe examined 386 reports to determine whether core data items recommended by the National Minimum dataset had been included in the pathology reports.ResultsOnly 115 of the 386 reports (30%) had all the expected data items compared to the expected standard of 90%. Melanoma reports were more often fully compliant (42%) compared with non-melanoma skin cancer (26%). Of 203 proforma reports, 112 were considered complete compared to only 3 of 183 free text reports. This confirms once again the value of a structured report in capturing all required core data items. The data items accounting for the majority of the deficiencies were tumour subtype, T stage and particularly risk status.DiscussionWe consider the reasons behind the poor level of compliance and consider opportunities that may exist to aid pathologists in generating clinically more useful reports of skin cancers.