National Cancer e-Atlas

In 2008, a new interactive web-based cancer information tool, the 'Cancer e-Atlas', was developed to improve access to cancer statistics across England.

The aim of the e-Atlas is to provide the public, health care professionals, commissioners and health service managers with basic information on incidence, mortality and survival for the main types of cancers in males and females.

The Cancer e-Atlas now includes incidence and mortality data by Cancer Network, Primary Care Trust and Local Authority for different age groups. The latest data displayed in the Cancer Network and PCT e-Atlases for cancer incidence is 2004-6 and for mortality, 2005-7. The latest data displayed in the Local Authority e-Atlas is 2003-5.

We are currently updating our cancer survival data and will add this to the cancer e-Atlas as soon as possible. Please contact enquiries@ncin.org.uk if you have any urgent requirements for survival data.

To access the e-Atlas click on either the PCT, Cancer Network or Local Authority link below. Hints and tips for usage are shown at the foot of this page.

To view the Cancer e-Atlas your computer needs to have Adobe Flash Player version 8 viewer (or higher) installed on your computer. A free download is available here.

Cancer e-Atlas uses data from English cancer registries and the Office for National Statistics. Survival statistics are available for only the four most common sites at PCT geography as survival rates for less common cancer sites are subject to large variations. These natural variations occur when dealing with smaller numbers of patients and do not necessarily reflect real differences between rates.

If you have any comments or any suggestions on how to improve the cancer e-Atlas, please do contact us by e-mail eatlas@ncin.org.uk.

Hints & tips on how to use the e-Atlas

• Each e-Atlas has a Help and a Notes document which can be downloaded. The Help document provides an overview of how to use the Cancer e-Atlas. The Notes provides information about the data.
• In each e-Atlas there is a 'data' button which allows you to choose the cancer site, gender and cancer statistic you are interested in displaying (e.g. mortality from lung cancer in males).
• The 'filter' button allows you to narrow down the data shown into smaller areas, for example by each region, cancer network or comparing health inequality 'Spearhead' areas.
• You can hover and click over any area on the map to select a particular locality you want to look at. This can be repeated any number of times for separate areas.
• You can also click on any geographic name in the 'Comparison Areas' to show how the areas you have selected compare to regional and national averages.
• The 'double map' button feature allows you to look at two different cancer types at once or comparing incidence of a specific cancer site against its mortality rate.
• To help provide extra context and interpretation to the statistics you've chosen on Cancer e-Atlas, there is a link to relevant sections on the Cancer Research UK's CancerStats website. To get to this, go to the Data button on the E-Atlas page and click on the small 'paper' icons (next to the arrows in the expanded drop down menus).