Guidance

Introduction

Introduction

Safeguarding children

Remember that child maltreatment:

  • is common

  • can present anywhere

  • may co‑exist with other health problems, including suspected cancer.

See NICE's guideline on child maltreatment for clinical features that may be associated with maltreatment.

People have the right to be involved in discussions and make informed decisions about their care, as described in NICE's information on making decisions about your care.

Making decisions using NICE guidelines explains how we use words to show the strength (or certainty) of our recommendations (although this may not apply to recommendations made before 2009; see the section on recommendation wording in guideline updates below). It also has information about prescribing medicines (including off-label use), professional guidelines, standards and laws (including on consent and mental capacity) and safeguarding.

How the guideline is organised

The recommendations in this guideline have been organised into 3 separate sections to help healthcare professionals find the relevant information easily. The recommendations for investigation and referral organised by site of suspected cancer are also presented in tables of recommendations organised by symptoms and investigation findings. Either section should be used in conjunction with the recommendations on patient support, safety netting and the diagnostic process.

Recommendation wording in guideline updates

NICE began using standard wording to denote the strength of recommendations in guidelines that started development after January 2009. It does not apply to any recommendations ending [2005] (see update information for details about how recommendations are labelled). In particular, for recommendations labelled [2005] the word 'consider' may not necessarily be used to denote the strength of the recommendation.