Practice care guidance for clinicians participating in the management of head and neck cancer patients in the UK. Drawn up by a Consensus Group of Practising Clinicians.

This paper outlines the minimum standards to be achieved by a head and neck cancer unit. It proposes a functional centre comprising associated units all of which will adopt the same standards and commitment to quality. The paper also proposes a suggested pathway for patients, describing various levels of care through which patients may pass as appropriate together with minimum standards relating to those levels. The skills and training required by various clinicians at different levels are outlined. The paper also describes a multidisciplinary clinic seen as the core service to patients and describes appropriate standards relevant to the clinic. The way forward now is to discuss and refine these standards as representative of appropriate high quality care to be offered to patients, and if these standards are agreed, to ensure that development proposals are established to set up the relevant services.