New NICE quality standard for Head and Neck cancer

22 August 2017

The National Institute for Health Care and Excellence published a new quality standard earlier this year looking at assessing, diagnosing and managing head and neck cancer. ENT UK was part of the consultation process for this quality standard and works with NICE to promote it to commissioners and service providers. Four quality statements were developed for the quality standard that set out how commissioners, providers and clinicians improve the care they plan and deliver for patients:

• People with cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract have their nutritional status, including the need for a prophylactic tube, assessed at diagnosis to avoid difficult eating and loss of healthy weight
• People with specific advanced stages of cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract are offered systemic staging to help health professionals provide more appropriate treatment for specific advanced stages of cancer
• People with early stage oral cancer who don’t need cervical access as a part of surgical management are offered sentinel lymph node biopsy as an alternative to elective neck dissection to provide quicker recovery time and less time in hospital
• People with cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract are given the choice of either radiotherapy or surgery if both are suitable options for their cancer
   

Professor Gillian Leng, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Health and Social Care at NICE said: “As ever we want to ensure patients receive the best possible care and our quality standards are an important resource to help health professionals achieve this.

“This quality standard is hugely important for people suffering from head or neck cancer. It provides advice that gives people more choice over their care and ensures they receive good quality care that is tailored to their needs.”

NICE quality standards describe high-priority areas for quality improvement in a defined care or service area. Each standard consists of a prioritised set of specific, concise and measurable statements. NICE quality standards draw on existing NICE or NICE-accredited guidance that provides an underpinning, comprehensive set of recommendations, and are designed to support the measurement of improvement.