The number of major surgical procedures performed defines the pool of patients assigned to each surgeon.

What this data shows:

The number of major surgical procedures performed defines the pool of patients assigned to each surgeon.

How the data is gathered:

The cases included are all new head and neck cancer diagnoses in England of the six most frequent head and neck cancers (larynx, oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, major salivary gland, and nasopharynx) submitted with a date of diagnosis from 1st November 2011 to 31st October 2013 who underwent major head and neck surgery (as per defined list of procedures) as first definitive treatment [excludes nasal cavity, bone tumours and ear cancers].

For nasopharynx this relates to first definitive treatment being neck dissection only.

It is recognised that the above caseload is only part of a head and neck surgeon’s workload. This report specifically does not consider, for example, diagnostic procedures for head and neck malignancy, surgery for benign disease, recurrent disease or surgical treatment after initial non-surgical therapies such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

When the data is shown:

A wide range of procedures are performed by head and neck cancer surgeons and they vary in complexity and frequency. More complex procedures are performed by teams of surgeons working together. A patient may therefore appear under several different surgeons.

For a small number of cases a surgeon code could not be allocated to a case and therefore the results total for a unit may differ from the contributions of individual surgeons cases.

Some surgeons have performed major surgery at more than one trust or have moved organisation during the audit period.

More information about the data source:

Case numbers are derived from National Head and Neck Cancer Audit (DAHNO) submissions supplemented both by Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data and by surgeons to attempt to capture any surgical cases missing from DAHNO.

Data Source:

Data collected from hospitals in England through the National Head and Neck Cancer Surgeon Level Reporting (DAHNO SLR) and National Head and Neck Cancer Audit (DAHNO); Hospital Episode Statistics (HES)

Data Period:

Annual

Data Supplier:

Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC); British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists (BAHNO).

Further Information:

Find out more about the National Head and Neck Cancer Audit