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Improving outcomes for people with skin tumours including melanoma

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Foreword<br />

<strong>Improving</strong> Outcomes <strong>for</strong><br />

People <strong>with</strong> Skin Tumours<br />

<strong>including</strong> Melanoma<br />

Foreword<br />

This guidance manual is the latest in the <strong>Improving</strong> <strong>outcomes</strong> in<br />

cancer series and the second produced by the National Collaborating<br />

Centre <strong>for</strong> Cancer (NCC-C). In particular there appeared to be a need<br />

to <strong>for</strong>malise and standardise the ways in which patients <strong>with</strong> the most<br />

common <strong>skin</strong> <strong>tumours</strong> and precancerous conditions are managed and<br />

in which health professionals in primary care are involved in their<br />

care. It was also clear that a group of patients <strong>with</strong> <strong>tumours</strong> that are<br />

rarer or more difficult to treat need to have easy access to very<br />

specialised professional care and a range of highly technical<br />

treatments.<br />

We hope that the guidance will point the way to important changes<br />

in the structure and organisation of care <strong>for</strong> patients <strong>with</strong> <strong>skin</strong> cancer<br />

and will lead to genuine improvement in the <strong>outcomes</strong> <strong>for</strong> a very<br />

large group of patients who have perhaps been overlooked in the<br />

recent changes in the provision of cancer services in the NHS.<br />

I would like to thank all the members of the Guidance Development<br />

Group (GDG), especially the chair, Dr Julia Verne, and the lead<br />

clinician, Dr Dafydd Roberts, <strong>for</strong> their hard work and commitment<br />

during the two years we have been collaborating on this project. I am<br />

also very grateful to all the expert advisers who have contributed<br />

(Appendix 5.4), and to the health professionals and patients around<br />

the country who participated in the survey of patient experiences (see<br />

Evidence Review) and gave us additional and very useful in<strong>for</strong>mation.<br />

Dr Fergus Macbeth<br />

Guidance on cancer services: <strong>skin</strong> <strong>tumours</strong> <strong>including</strong> <strong>melanoma</strong><br />

7

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