Conclusions

The European Code of Cancer Practice and this supporting paper provide tools which will help patients to navigate their way through the huge challenges they face when diagnosed with cancer as well as providing cancer professionals with help in the development of their own patient-centred approaches to good cancer care. They should be a useful aid to training patient advocates and trainees in all professions involved in multidisciplinary cancer care. In order to achieve the  goals of improved cancer outcomes and QoL, they must be based on the best available evidence and reflect the best planned approaches to cancer care for the individual patient and for all of those who depend on the quality of their cancer care healthcare services.

In this supporting paper we have brought together the medical literature and available evidence which describes good clinical cancer practice which is aimed to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients. The remains a substantial need for further research into the science and medicine of cancer care and into the best ways to support patients throughout their cancer journey. The literature, its recommendations and the evidence upon which they are based will evolve year by year so The Code and its supporting papers will have to be constantly updated, reviewed and improved. 

Back to Medical Literature and Evidence for the European Code of Cancer Practice