We are pleased to announce that the NHS Cancer Programme is moving to an interactive dashboard populated using National Endoscopy Database data to report performance on a new metric on FIT use, which went live on 1 April.
The NHS Cancer Programme currently collects data through the Cancer Alliance Quarterly Assurance process to measure faecal immunochemical test (FIT) use in secondary care. This data collection was always meant to be time-limited until a national solution could be identified to reduce the burden on providers. The National Endoscopy Database (NED) collects real-time data from electronic endoscopy reports across the United Kingdom. The latest current iteration of NED (NEDi2.1) collects FIT values entered by endoscopists at the time of all lower GI procedures. At present ~70% of NHS services in England upload to NEDi2.1, with numbers increasing as services move away from legacy reporting systems.
The NHS Cancer Programme in England has been working with the NED team to explore a national metric to track the use of FIT in secondary care, and have proposed the following:
The percentage of symptomatic colonoscopies informed by a positive FIT (≥10ugHb/g).
Performance with this metric has been explored using NED data from January to June 2025 inclusive. In that period, 41.9% of procedures were labelled as “FIT not done”. Of those with a recorded FIT, the rate of compliance with the new metric was 79.5%. The NHS Cancer Programme has proposed a target of 85% of symptomatic colonoscopies being informed by a FIT≥10ugHb/g. When just examining procedures with a recorded FIT, 37.1% of NHS services met this target. The aim of the new dashboard is to allow real-time auditing of FIT reporting and provide a basis for targeted education.
It is felt that colonoscopies can be broadly categorised by indication as: Therapeutic; Bowel Cancer Screening; Abnormal prior investigation; High-cancer-risk surveillance; Evaluation, diagnosis or surveillance of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); Symptomatic; Only FIT recorded.
Routine, urgent and urgent suspected cancer (“2-week-wait”) procedures all predominantly fall within the Symptomatic category and occupy the same niche of colonoscopic service provision. It is argued that all symptomatic procedures benefit from a prior FIT to establish their necessity and urgency.
The new dashboard will allow audit and oversight of FIT reporting by cancer alliances, regional teams and service leads.
We would like to thank JAG fellow, Dr Keith Pohl, for his work on the FIT dashboard, which will provide a valuable, impactful resource.
The dashboard is accessible to service leads roles (NED Trust Admins), regional teams, cancer alliances and national leads who have been contacted already. This is currently avaliable for services in England, as we explore the potential rollout further with services in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. If you are a service lead, and require access, please get in touch via our contact form.
You can find further information on the NED website and FAQ’s in our help centre.