April 2026 CanShare newsletter

Quarterly data submissions

Thank you to the departments who submitted the quarter four (October-December) 2025 data submissions. This means the complete ROC dataset for the 2025 calendar year is now available to support service planning, operational delivery, and research.

We are pleased to confirm that collaboration with MidCentral to support ROC data submissions from the Taranaki Cancer Centre (which opened in late 2025) has been successful, and Taranaki data is now being received as part of the collection. A single vendor system is shared between the tertiary centre and satellite centre, with a solution to clearly distinguish which site delivered the treatment. This approach provides a robust framework that can be applied for any future satellite centres.

ROC dashboard

The Radiation Oncology Collection (ROC) dashboard continues to provide valuable insights for the sector. To ensure the dashboard remains useful and fit for purpose, we are planning to update analytics outputs and the associated explanatory narrative later in 2026.
We will invite key stakeholders to share their insights before any updates are progressed. If you would like to be involved, please get email the team via canshare@teaho.govt.nz.

SNOMED CT April 2026 release

In the April 2026 SNOMED CT New Zealand edition, CanShare published 79 new concepts, created 5 new reference sets and updated 72 reference sets. We also continued rationalising the reference sets bringing the total to 435. Release notes outlining the content of the New Zealand extension, including CanShare content, is available on the SNOMED International Release Management page.

You can view this content online using the SNOMED CT Browser and via API using the New Zealand Health Terminology Service (NZHTS). Also, now available from the NZHTS are 2069 active ValueSets containing CanShare SNOMED CT content, to support accurate and detailed cancer data collection across CanShare projects and implementations.

International collaboration

The CanShare team continued collaborations with the international SNOMED CT community on the representation of molecular genetics concepts in SNOMED CT. We contributed to a SNOMED International project on the representation of genes in SNOMED CT and initiated a project to update the terminology to describe genetic alterations to align with current best practice.

This work will enable a streamlined international approach to the recording of ancillary studies for cancer using SNOMED CT. These concepts will be used in New Zealand to support pathologists and clinicians in structured pathology reporting and capturing eligibility information for systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT).

The CanShare and Te Rēhita Mate Ūtaetae – Breast Cancer Foundation National Register teams continue to work in close partnership to SNOMED CT code the register fields, to strengthen the quality, consistency, and usability of breast cancer data across Aotearoa. Operating for over 20 years the Register has a comprehensive collection of breast cancer data for use in clinical audit and research to help improve breast cancer outcomes.

We’re pleased to share that SNOMED CT coding is now complete for the radiation oncology, pathology, chemotherapy, and endocrine therapy sections – awaiting final approval for the registers clinical advisory group. This milestone is a significant step forward in providing nationally approved data standards for breast cancer which will help improve interoperability across systems.

Surgery and reconstruction content has been drafted for SNOMED CT coding and is now undergoing clinical review to ensure it is clinically appropriate and fit for purpose. The next areas of focus will include SNOMED CT coding of work-up (including diagnostic and imaging information), local and regional recurrence, metastatic disease and follow-up, supporting a more comprehensive view of the breast cancer patient journey.

The Breast Cancer Foundation has recently invested in a new register system which went live on 30 March. Future enhancements are planned to progressively incorporate SNOMED CT coding, supporting improved interoperability, consistency, and data analytics over time.

ASAP reporting is one of the active CanShare projects focused on improving the timeliness and consistency of cancer information. ASAP is an application that uses artificial intelligence to draft an anatomical pathology report, while ensuring that clinically important information is captured in a structured form and coded in SNOMED CT. This supports both clinical readability and standards based data capture, without adding unnecessary reporting burden on pathologists.

The ASAP application went live on 15 April with pathologists in Waitematā, Christchurch, and Dunedin laboratories participating in pilot testing. During the pilot, pathologists will use ASAP in real reporting contexts and provide feedback on how well the application supports their day to day workflow. Testing is focused on usability, report quality, clinical safety, and how effectively AI assistance supports structured data capture while preserving professional judgement and narrative flexibility.

The pilot is also testing the underlying technologies and approaches used by ASAP, including how SNOMED CT coding is generated and reviewed, how well the application integrates with existing laboratory practices, and how reliably reports can be shared in near real-time once completed. Feedback from participating pathologists will be used to understand strengths, limitations, and areas requiring further refinement.

Near real time sharing of anatomical pathology reports that are coded in SNOMED CT is a core feature of the application. This enables earlier availability of high quality cancer information for clinical care, service planning, and system level use, and is a key capability being assessed during the pilot.

ASAP is a time limited pilot designed to test technologies, approaches, and usability.  The pilot will run for two months and will then end. Insights gained will inform future decisions about how AI assisted structured reporting and standards based pathology data may be embedded within CanShare and the wider health system in the future.

This work is a collaboration between pathologists, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Deloitte. ASAP forms part of the wider CanShare programme, which aims to improve the timely sharing of high quality cancer information across New Zealand.

The Analytics team has a number of exciting projects underway:

State of Cancer in New Zealand

The State of Cancer dashboard provides an interactive, accessible view of the evidence underpinning the State of Cancer in New Zealand 2025 report (the report), published in December 2025. Designed to complement the report, the dashboard supports transparent, data informed decision making and helps the sector track how cancer outcomes and system performance are changing over time. The dashboard is available on our website and will continue to evolve as new data and insights become available. 

Cancer Burden Projections
 

Te Aho o Te Kahu produces high quality data and insights on the current and historical burden of cancer, to help the cancer system understand how cancer affects different communities. To better inform public health policy, prevention efforts, and long term investment in infrastructure and workforce planning, we also need robust estimates of the future burden of cancer.

We propose extending the standard Age Period Cohort (APC) methods to enable scenario based forecasting. This would enable the sector to explore how cancer incidence may change under different assumptions about public policy, prevention, and treatment effectiveness. Where evidence allows, models will incorporate differences by gender, ethnicity, and rurality to support an equity focused approach.

The first cancer to be modelled will be cervical cancer, supporting development of a cervical cancer elimination plan by forecasting incidence under differing levels of HPV vaccination and screening coverage.

Cancer Information Hub

The Cancer Information Hub is a multi-phased initiative to create a single, public facing platform that will bring together trusted cancer statistics, dashboards, insights, and methods in one place on our website.

By addressing the current fragmentation of cancer data across multiple reports and systems, the Hub will make it easier to understand trends, monitor system performance, and identify inequities. Over time, it will strengthen access to up-to-date cancer information, support more consistent and equity focused decision making and improve planning and accountability across the cancer system in Aotearoa.

The initial launch of the Cancer Information Hub landing page is planned to be towards the end of May 2026.