General information

CancerBACUP no longer produces information about referral guidelines because The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently produced comprehensive patient information about their new guidelines (June 2005).  

These guidelines from NICE aim to help general practitioners (GPs) or other health professionals know when to refer people to specialists if they present with symptoms that could be due to a cancer. The guidelines refer to immediate (seen within a few hours), urgent (within 2 weeks) and non-urgent referrals (seen under locally agreed referral systems). They include guidance on the need for information and support.

The information NICE has produced is divided into three sections:

• General information about being referred for suspected cancer.
• Adult cancers – this includes a list of symptoms with recommendations of when someone should be referred to a specialist.
• Children and young people with suspected cancer.

The patient information about the guidelines can be seen at http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=261654