Integration of the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) into your Clinical Software

What is the aim of this QI activity?

• integrate your general practice clinical information software with the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR).

What will I need to do?

• step 1: Register your organisation in PRODA and with the NCSR Healthcare Provider Portal.

• step 2: Install the NCSR into your general practice clinical software and enable user access.

• step 3: QI champion can assist every team member to become confident using key functions of the NCSR by sharing user guides and helpful how-to videos. 

Refer to details below to assist with these steps.

How will I complete this activity?

• by successfully installing the NCSR into your general practice clinical software.

Where do I document my results?

• QI summary register

• Model for improvement/PDSA template

Document the successful installation of the NCSR into your general practice clinical software in the Quality Improvement Register as evidence of system improvement.

Who can I contact for support?

For support with this activity please contact the General Practice Quality Improvement team on 38647540 or email [email protected].

If you require support with the NCSR call 1800 627 701 and speak to a member of the NCSR Contact Centre, or you can book in a time to receive a call back: NCSR: Registration & New Software Integration Support

Before you begin, identify who at your practice has a PRODA account and is either the responsible officer or an approved delegate. This might be a Practice Manager or Practice Principal. Additionally, identify who holds clinical software administrator access. If you use an IT support company, they may be able to assist. 

You will also need your Healthcare Provider Identifier-Organisation (HPI-O) number and ensure it matches the one used for your clinical software.

Step 1: Register your medical organisation in PRODA and with the NCSR Healthcare Provider Portal 

To begin the integration, follow the instructions on the NCSR website:

Clinical Software Integration | National Cancer Screening Register 

The video guides are also helpful:

• Video 1 – Requirements to have ready (2 mins)

• Video 2 - Logging in and adding a new organisation in PRODA (1 min)

• Video 3 - Adding the NCSR as a service provider in PRODA (1 min)

• Video 4 - Managing members and delegations for your organisation in PRODA (1 min)

• Video 5 - Registering your organisation with the NCSR (2 mins)

Reminder: If you require assistance with step 1 you can call 1800 627 701 and speak to a member of the NCSR Contact Centre, or you can book in a time to receive a call back: 

NCSR: Registration & New Software Integration Support

Step 2: Install the NCSR into your general practice clinical software and enable user access 

Once the registration process is complete in step 1, you will need to follow instructions specific to the clinical software you use to enable the integration:

Best Practice 

Install the Bp Premier FHIR Service. Before setting up the NCSR integration, it’s crucial that you install the FHIR API on your practice server.

If this step is not completed, an error will occur when attempting to access and submit NCSR forms.

Set up integration in Best Practice: Set up NCSR Integration

Your IT provider may be best positioned to support this process.

Medical Director

The NCSR widget is available with Clinical 4.0 and later. You’ll need to access the sidebar and add the NCSR widget.

Installing the NCSR Hub Widget

You will be prompted to grant access permissions for the widget. Ensure you allow access to All.

Once the widget is installed, it should appear in the sidebar and display NCSR information for eligible patients who are participating in the bowel or cervical screening program. 

MMEx: MMEx support materials | National Cancer Screening Register

Communicare: Communicare support materials | National Cancer Screening Register

Step 3: QI champion can assist every team member to become confident using key functions of the NCSR by sharing user guides and helpful how-to videos 

Once the NCSR is successfully installed, it's essential to make sure every team member understands its full functionality. 

You could consider hosting a team meeting to discuss the software and provide a demonstration at a computer. Or you could send an internal message or email. Here is a template to help get you started: 

Subject: National Cancer Screening Register Now Integrated - Please Review

“Hi Team,

We’re excited to share that the National Cancer Screening Register has now been integrated into our (insert name) clinical software! This means you can easily access patients’ bowel, cervical, and lung cancer screening information and submit forms directly within the system. No more phone calls, faxes, or logging into PRODA.

To help you get started, here are links to the step-by-step video guides that will walk you through how to use the integration and support patient participation. You’ll find these videos at the bottom of the following webpages:

• Best Practice: Best Practice support materials | National Cancer Screening Register

• Medical Director: MedicalDirector support materials | National Cancer Screening Register

• MMEx: MMEx support materials | National Cancer Screening Register

• Communicare: Communicare support materials | National Cancer Screening Register

Once you’ve had a chance to watch the videos, please reply to this email to confirm - this helps us ensure everyone is aware of this new feature.

If you have any questions or need a hand, feel free to reach out. I’m more than happy to help.

Warm regards,

Insert name and role”

Suggested measures and data sources

For this activity, you can track process measures such as:

• was the NCSR successfully installed and accessible within the clinical software (Yes/No)

• number or proportion of clinical users with NCSR access enabled in their account.

You could also document system improvement measures such as:

• reduction in manual documentation, faxing or phone enquiries related to screening.

• improved completeness of screening status recorded in patient records.

How did you go?

• were you able to successfully integrate the NCSR into your clinical software?

• is your team now fully equipped to navigate and utilise the NCSR’s features effectively? 

Let the GPQI team know at BSPHN if you’ve integrated by sending as an email:  [email protected] 

Are you interested in completing a cancer screening quality improvement activity? 

Bowel cancer screening activity

Cervical screening activity

Bowel Cancer Screening QI Case Study