Mastectomy and breast reconstruction

The National Mastectomy and Breast Reconstruction Audit is designed to assess and improve the quality of care provided to women with breast cancer undergoing mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery. The audit will evaluate the care process and measure treatment outcomes for these women.

There is at present no national data on the types of patients that the procedure is offered to in terms of their age, presenting symptoms, geographical location, length of time waiting for the operation, and the outcome of the surgery.

The Cancer Plan (2001) states that all women undergoing mastectomy should be offered reconstructive surgery, but there are concerns that information about the surgery and access to the service varies for patient groups and geographical location. New guidelines on oncoplastic surgery will be used to compare current practice.

Aims of the audit

• describe provision of and access to breast reconstruction in England and Wales
• evaluate current clinical practice in mastectomy and breast reconstruction
• measure outcomes following mastectomy with or without reconstruction
• assess the quality of information provided to women undergoing mastectomy and their satisfaction with the reconstructive choices made.

Organisation of the audit

The audit is being managed by the National Clinical Audit Support Programme (NCASP) of The Information Centre for health and social care in conjunction with a team of specialist clinicians and auditors from:

• the Association of Breast Surgery at the British Association of Surgical Oncology
• the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons
• the Royal College of Nursing
• the Clinical Effectiveness Unit of The Royal College of Surgeons of England and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The National Clinical Audit Support Programme at the NHS Information Centre

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