Melanoma diagnoses and mortality statistics (FOI)

Request

Please provide the statistics for melanoma diagnoses for the last three years and the mortality statistics for the same period.

Response 

Information in relation to cancer diagnosis in Jersey is analysed by Public Health England, through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service, on behalf of the Channel Islands. Please see the following link to the latest report from Public Health England: 

Channel Islands Cancer Registration Report 2020.gov.je

Further details on Melanoma for period 2003 to 2016, can be found on the following pages:

• Incidence of melanoma: Page 14
  
• Age standardised incidence rates (per 100,000 population) for Jersey: Page 17
• Age standardised mortality rates (per 100,000 population) for Jersey: Page 19
• Further details on Melanoma between pages 68 to 71.
  

Data about diagnosis for the period 2017 to 2022 will be included in future iterations of this report.

Providing data from the Jersey health systems would include data extraction, matching and analysis from the following systems:

• Cancer Outcomes and Services dataset (COSD) from the cancer management MDT system 
• Pathology (including information about staging and metastasis)
• Patient Administration System (PAS)
• Death certificates or notices. 
  

Compilation of this data, without information from UK data systems related to Jersey domiciled residents, will not give a complete picture of diagnosis of Jersey residents. This is why data is supplied through the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service in order to provide a complete data set of cancer diagnoses. 

As the information is not held, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies. 

Mortality Statistics on Malignant Melanoma or other Malignant neoplasm of skin

Table 1 below represents the ICD10 codes used to identify the following conditions in underlying cause of death. These codes are based on ONS definitions for reporting on deaths due Malignant Melanoma or other Malignant neoplasm of skin.

Table 1

The data provided below includes the numbers of deaths occurring in a calendar year in Jersey, plus deaths that occurred abroad to Jersey residents where the body was repatriated to Jersey.

In the three years between 2019 and 2021 in Jersey, there were 27 deaths in total due Malignant Melanoma or other Malignant neoplasm of skin. A breakdown per year is shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 

Due to the delays which can sometimes occur with registration of deaths, and the time it takes for death cause to be coded by the Office for National Statistics (UK), it is standard for mortality to be reported in arrears. As per the Public Health Intelligence publication schedule, which can be accessed via the link below, information in respect of total deaths in 2022 is due to be published in September 2023. Data for this response includes the three-year period from 2019 to 2021, which is the most recently available complete data.

Public Health Intelligence publication release schedule (gov.je) 

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.