Standards of cancer care

You may want to find out about the standards:

• National standards of care for people with specific types of cancer are being produced for England and Wales by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) as Improving Outcomes Guidance. Copies can be obtained from the NICE website: www.nice.org.uk  In Scotland standards of care are produced by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. Visit www.nhshealthquality.org
• A Declaration of Rights for people with cancer (orginally developed by Cancerlink), now available from Macmillan
• Government standards for cancer care setting out how services should be delivered. The Government will check whether hospitals are meeting these standards, and aims to reduce variations in quality from area to area.  The set of standards for England, called the Manual of Cancer Service Standards is available at www.doh.gov.uk/cancer
• The Right to Know, a guide to information and support for people living with cancer can be found at www.cancerbackup.org.uk

For more information about the record of your doctors and hospital contact:

• Your hospital PALS (Community Health Councils in Wales, Local Health Councils in Scotland, Health and Social Services Councils in Northern Ireland). Look in the phone book for your local number.
• NHS freephone information services: (for England) NHS Direct on 0845 4647; (for Scotland) NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24; (for Wales) NHS Direct Wales on 0845 4647 or visit www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk

For advice about the quality of your care, contact:

• The Clinical Audit Association, 46, The Cleethorpes Business Centre, Jackson Place, Humberstone, NE Lincolnshire DN36 4AS Tel 01472 210682
• Your local PALS (England); Community Health Councils (Wales); Local Health Councils (Scotland); Health and Social Services Councils (Northern Ireland) may also be able to offer some suggestions.

For information on specialist cancer units for children and teenagers contact:

• The Teenage Cancer Trust, Tel 020 7387 1000 www.teenagecancertrust.org
  
• CLIC Sargent Cancer Care for Children Tel 0845 301 0031 www.clicsargent.org.uk