Assessing Cancer Care Quality in OECD Countries: New Indicators for Benchmarking Performance is an OECD Health Working Paper published in 2025. It presents six indicators covering access and timeliness, quality of care and patient-centredness, based on a pilot involving 18 OECD countries.
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 screening and early detection.
Around half of breast, colorectal and lung cancer patients began treatment within approximately 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 risk of death.
Most countries reported high use of targeted treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer, although results remained below the 90% international target.
Fewer than one in ten older cancer patients received systemic treatment during their final 30 days of life in most countries.
The pandemic disrupted screening, diagnosis and treatment, increasing emergency diagnoses and delaying treatment in several countries.
The report recommends stronger cancer registries, improved data linkages and internationally comparable indicators for diagnosis, treatment and end-of-life care.
