The aim of this report is to support quality improvement and delivery of provincial and territorial colorectal cancer screening programs. Data for this report is collected from the colorectal cancer screening programs, and indicators are standardized, allowing for comparison between screening programs.

Compared with the previous national colorectal cancer screening monitoring and evaluation report for 2013-14, more provinces and territories were able to provide data, and those data covered a greater proportion of the Canadian population. Of the 13 provinces and territories, 11 jurisdictions provided at least some data for this report: Yukon, Northwest Territories, Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The completeness of data submission varied between provinces and territories. All seven indicators had data provided by at least one jurisdiction. The increased data available for analysis allows for a more in-depth assessment of the status and impact of colorectal cancer screening across the country.

Refresh of colorectal cancer screening quality indicators

The National Colorectal Cancer Screening Network (NCCSN) is convened by the Partnership and provides strategic direction and input on the colorectal cancer screening quality indicators. In 2017, the NCCSN identified that there was an opportunity to revise and streamline the existing set of quality indicators to further inform future quality improvement and increase the consistency of data collection. Throughout 2018, a working group came together to develop new system-level quality indicators for colorectal cancer screening.

Seven system-level quality indicators were selected by the working group. These were selected not only because they are important indicators for program performance, locally and nationally, but also because they should be readily and easily available for collection by each program in an efficient, standardized manner without duplicating data collection efforts by other jurisdictions.

Acknowledgements
The Canadian Partnership Against Cancer would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of the following groups and individuals in the production of this report: the National Colorectal Cancer Screening Network, members of the Colorectal Cancer Screening Quality Indicators Working Group, and staff from the provincial and territorial cancer programs and agencies.

Suggested citation
Canadian Partnership Against Cancer. Monitoring and Evaluation of Colorectal Cancer Screening Quality Indicators. Toronto: Canadian Partnership Against Cancer; 2021.

For more information about this report, please contact screening@partnershipagainstcancer.ca.

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