Assessing Cancer Care Quality in OECD Countries: New Indicators for Benchmarking Performance is an OECD Health Working Paper published in 2025. It presents a pilot assessment involving 18 OECD countries and six indicators covering access and timeliness, quality of care and patient-centredness.
Key insights:
More than one in five colon cancers were diagnosed through emergency presentation in most reporting countries, with similar or higher rates for lung cancer.
On average, 55% of breast cancers and 61% of cervical cancers were diagnosed at an early stage.
Only 22% of colorectal cancers were diagnosed early, indicating weaker progress in early detection.
About half of breast, colorectal and lung cancer patients began treatment within roughly one month of diagnosis.
The average 30-day mortality rate following colorectal cancer surgery was 2.9%, but emergency surgery carried a three- to seven-times higher mortality risk.
Fewer than one in ten older cancer patients received systemic treatment during their final 30 days of life in most countries.
The pandemic disrupted cancer diagnosis and treatment, increasing emergency diagnoses and reducing timely treatment in several countries.
The report recommends stronger cancer registries, better data linkages and continued development of comparable indicators for diagnosis, treatment and end-of-life care.
