Service guidance on Head and Neck Cancer is being developed for use in the NHS in England and Wales. Service guidance is intended primarily for those who commission cancer services (although it is also extensively used by those involved in service delivery) and it is therefore wider in scope, and different from, conventional clinical guidelines. However the process for developing cancer service guidance is similar to that used for developing clinical guidelines. For more information on NICE's guideline development process, click here.

The consultation documents

The three documents presented here - the full version of the guidance, the evidence review (including the economic review) and information explaining the recommendations in easy-to-understand language - have been prepared for the second round of consultation with the stakeholders registered for this guidance topic.

Note that the provisional service guidance recommendations presented here do not constitute the Institute's formal guidance on this topic. The recommendations are provisional and may change after consultation.

The full version describes the evidence and views that have been considered and sets out the provisional service guidance recommendations that have been developed - these may have been revised in the light of comments made during the first consultation period.

The evidence review is a summary of the evidence used to develop the guidance. The economic review is an analysis of the potential costs impact of the guidance on cancer services.

The information for the public has been prepared to help people who may be affected by the guidance recommendations understand what the provisional recommendations mean; this information was not available during the first consultation period.

Points to consider in the second consultation

During this consultation period, you may want to:

• review the changes that have been made to the full service guidance
• comment on the usefulness of the information that describes the provisional guidance recommendations in easy-to-understand language (the information for the public)
• make final comments on the service guidance prior to publication.

How to comment on the documents

The Institute is now inviting comments from the registered stakeholders for this guidance. Although individuals may comment on these documents, we advise you to contact the registered stakeholder organisation that most closely represents your interests and pass your comments to that organisation. The registered stakeholders for this service guidance are listed on this website.

Comments made on these documents by registered stakeholders will be posted on the NICE website together with the name of the organisation that submitted the comments. Informative comments from individuals or non-registered stakeholders will be summarised and the summary will also be posted on the website.

Please do not include personal medical information about yourself or another person from which your or the person's identity could be ascertained.

Please complete the comments form that can be downloaded from the website and send the form with your comments via email to: headneck@nice.nhs.uk. Alternatively you can mark your comments 'Guidance - head and neck' and send it to: Nicole Elliott, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Midcity Place, 71 High Holborn, London WC1V 6NA or fax them to the Institute on: 020 7067 5801. Please be clear whether your comments refer to the full guidance, the evidence review (including the economic review) or the information for the public.

The key dates for this service guidance are:

• Closing date for comments: 15 June 2004
• Publication of guidance: October 2004

More information on other cancer service guidance or guidance that has been produced or is in development is also available from this site.