166 National comparative audit in clinical oncology: The royal college of radiologists’ coin project

The Faculty of Clinical Oncology of the Royal College of Radiologists together with the Joint Council for Clinical Oncology has a strong commitment to clinical audit and has established a major programme to clinical audit and has established a major programme of work, the Clinical Oncology Information Network (COIN) project to address variations in medical practice. COIN is funded by the Clinical Audit Unit of NHS Executive to: develop evidence-based guidelines of best practice; get national agreement on clinical core data sets for oncology; and to develop computer work-stations specifically designed to facilitate data capture. This is a collaborative effort between cancer specialists, all of whom have been invited to contribute by nominating themselves or others to be active collaborators (Specialty Working Groups) within particular areas of interest or specific cancer sites. It is intended that the COIN deliverabies will be adopted by the NHS as clinical standards, making national comparative audit of clinical oncology possible. COIN is also a member of consortia which have submitted proposals to the European Commission's Framework IV programme, Telematics for Healthcare, to work on systematic reviews and guidelines and their telematic dissemination, and on the development of clinical workstations for oncology.