Service guidance for improving outcomes for people with brain and other central nervous system tumours.

NICE has developed guidance on the healthcare that should be provided for people with brain tumours and other central nervous system tumours. It recommends which healthcare professionals should be involved in treatment and care, and the types of hospital or cancer centre best suited to that care.

Key recommendations include:

• All patients' care should be co-ordinated through a designated multi-disciplinary team (MDT)
• All patients should have face-to-face contact with healthcare professionals to discuss their care at critical points in their care pathway, and be provided with high quality written information to support this
• All patients should have a clearly defined key worker
• Patients should have ready access to specialist care services as appropriate
• Palliative care specialists should be core members of the neuroscience MDT and of the cancer network MDT
• Cancer networks should ensure that clinical trials on brain tumours carried out by the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) are supported and patient entry into these studies actively monitored.

• Other information

  • Improving outcomes for people with brain and other CNS tumours - economic impact
  • Improving outcomes for people with brain and other CNS tumours - evidence review
  • Improving outcomes for people with brain and other CNS tumours - needs assessment

  How this guidance was produced

  Background information

  • 2006/032 NICE guidance set to improve services for patients with brain & other CNS tumours

Guidance formats

• Full Guidance (PDF)
• Patient version (PDF)

Brain tumours

Guideline for patients and carers (PDF)