Improving outcomes for people with skin tumours including melanoma

Improving Outcomes for
People with Skin Tumours
including Melanoma
Appendix 4
The identification and retrieval of evidence to support the
recommendations in the guidance is described in detail in the
Evidence Review. Briefly, there were three stages to this process:
• Clinical question development. Members of the GDG were asked
to submit clinical questions to the NCC-C on issues covered by
the project scope.
• Literature searching. All clinical questions were prioritised and
were subject to either a systematic or a ‘high-level’ search.
• Critical appraisal. Finally all full papers relevant to each clinical
question were appraised using the methodology described in
the NICE Guideline Development Methods manual.
A4
It should be noted that most of the published research on cancer
topics focuses on clinical evaluations of treatment; little direct
research has been carried out on the organisation and delivery of
services.
In order to elicit the views of patients with skin tumours on current
cancer service provision, a piece of research was commissioned by
the GDG and NCC-C. Researchers at the Department of Social
Medicine, University of Bristol, performed this study, the full results
of which are given in the Evidence Review.
All the evidence reviews used to inform the manual are summarised
in the document Improving Outcomes for People with Skin Tumours
including Melanoma: the Research Evidence, which includes details of
all the studies appraised. This document is available on a CD-ROM, a
copy of which is included on the inside cover of the manual.
Additional complementary research, designed to quantify the potential
cost of major changes in services, was carried out by the Centre for
Economics and Policy in Health, Institute of Medical and Social Care
Research (IMSCAR), at the University of Bangor. This work involves
literature-searching, interviews with clinicians and managers, and
analyses of costs.
The writing of the guidance manual was coordinated by the Chair
and Clinical Lead of the GDG in accordance with all members of the
GDG, assisted by Dr Fergus Macbeth, Dr Andrew Champion and Dr
Mary Webb at the NCC-C.
The production of this guidance was funded by the National Institute
for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), and has been subject to
the full NICE consultation process.
142
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence