A service guidance for improving outcomes in children and young people with cancer is being developed for use in the NHS in England and Wales. Registered stakeholders for the children and young people with cancer service guidance are invited to comment on the provisional guidance recommendations via this website.

Although individuals and organisations not registered as stakeholders are able to comment, we recommend that you contact the registered stakeholder organisation that most closely represents your interests and pass your comments to them. We work closely with stakeholder organisations and take their views very seriously.

• List of registered stakeholders and information on the progress for this guideline topic - click here

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

Consultation dates:  3 February 2005 – 3 March 2005

Consultation documents:

• Full guidance
• Information for the public
• Evidence review (including full economic review)
• Appendix to Evidence Review - An Assessment of Need for Child and Adolescent Cancer Services in England and Wales
• Comments proforma

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

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 guidance
• comment on the key recommendations for implementation selected by the guideline developers
• comment on the usefulness of the information that describes the provisional guidance recommendations in easy-to-understand language (Information for the Public)
• make final comments on the guidance prior to publication.

How to submit your comments:

Please use the comments proforma above and return by email to childcancer@nice.nhs.uk or on a disk to:

Cathryn Fuller
Guidelines Coordinator
National Institute for Clinical Excellence
MidCity Place
71 High Holborn
London
WC1V 6NA

The Institute is unable to accept:

• More than one response per stakeholder organisation
• Comments received after the consultation deadline
• Comments that are not on the correct proforma
• Confidential information or other material that you would not wish to be made public
• Personal medical information about yourself or another person from which your or the person’s identity could be ascertained.

What will happen to your comments:

• All comments (with the exception of personal, individual comments) will be sent to the developers at the end of the consultation
• Comment from registered stakeholders ONLY will be formally responded to by the developers and posted on the NICE website after the final guidance is published
• Personal, individual comments will be forwarded to the Patient Involvement Unit for NICE, who will consider them when making their response.

Acknowledgement of comments:

You should receive an automated acknowledgement from the email box when you email your comments.  If you do not receive this acknowledgement, please contact the relevant Guidelines Coordinator to ensure they have been safely received.

Anticipated publication date:                  July 2005

WEBSITE LINKS

• We have answered some frequently asked questions on our clinical guidelines – click here
• For more information on NICE’s guideline development process - click here