NICE was asked by the Department of Health (DH) to develop public health intervention guidance for the NHS and local authorities on the prevention of skin cancer in the general public with specific reference to:

• provision of information
• physical changes to the environment
• supply of sun protection resources

Three pieces of complementary guidance (one for each of the above areas) will be produced to cover this referral. The scope is available from the NICE website for the first of these areas (Provision of information).

All registered stakeholders are now invited to comment on the evidence that has been assembled to inform the development of the first piece of guidance (Provision of information). This evidence will be used by the Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee (PHIAC) to develop draft recommendations. The evidence comprises a review of effectiveness and cost effectiveness, a review of qualitative evidence, an economic modelling report and a summary of key prevention messages.

Key areas for comment

The aim of this consultation is to enable stakeholders to consider the evidence gathered and to provide the opportunity to comment, in particular on:

• major gaps in the evidence gathered, including papers in the published literature that we have not been able to identify
• queries around the interpretation of the evidence, both of single studies and the reviewed material as a whole
• the applicability of the evidence and its usefulness for the development of guidance
•  issues relating to equality
• issues relating to cost-effectiveness

Registered stakeholders are also invited to submit relevant additional evidence for consideration. In order for NICE to be able to produce guidance in a timely fashion, materials should be:

• relevant to the questions set out in the scopedocument
• currently not included in the evidence reviews
• provided as a PDF or electronic link to an accessible version of the complete document.

(If it is not possible to submit additional evidence electronically, please contact the Project Co-ordinator to make alternative arrangements)

Any material submitted by stakeholders during this consultation will be assessed for its relevance using NICE's standard methods, as set out in the ‘Methods for development of NICE public health guidance' available on the NICE website. Relevant material will be included in a supplementary report to PHIAC.

The consultation on this evidence will run from 6 March – 3 April 2009

Please provide all responses to this consultation on the of evidence electronically using the Stakeholder Comments Form (ensuring all relevant fields are completed, including your organisation's name) and forward this, along with any additional evidence you are submitting, by 5pm on Friday 3rd April 2009 at the very latest to the following email address:preventionskincancer@nice.org.uk

 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

What will happen to your comments:

• All comments (with the exception of personal, individual comments and late comments) will be sent to the project team at the end of the consultation
• Comments from registered stakeholders will be formally responded to by the project team and posted on the NICE website.
• No action will be taken upon receipt of personal, individual comments and late comments.
• PLEASE NOTE: The Institute reserves the right to summarise and edit comments received during consultations, or not to publish them at all, where in the reasonable opinion of the Institute, the comments are voluminous, publication would be unlawful or publication would be otherwise inappropriate.

Consultation Documents

• Providing public health information to prevent skin cancer - Review of effectiveness and cost effectiveness:
  • Main text (document 1a)
  • Appendices (document 1b)
  • Executive summary (document 1c)
  • Adjunct to main text (document 1d)
• Providing public information to prevent skin cancer – Review 2 – Barriers to and facilitators to conveying information to prevent first occurrence of skin cancer: a systematic review of qualitative evidence (document 2)
• Providing public health information to prevent skin cancer - Modelling strategies for primary prevention of skin cancer (document 3)
• A summary of key messages to be included in public information resources for the primary prevention of skin cancer (document 4)

Please note, the evidence presented here does not constitute the Institute's guidance on this topic. NICE will issue draft guidance on Providing public information to prevent skin cancer in October 2009.