Breaking Significant News - an introduction
The North London Cancer Network Best Practice Guidelines for Communicating Significant News has been produced following a review of existing guidance from hospitals within the Network by the Communication Skills Steering Group and the Cancer Partnership Group. The Cancer Partnership Group also made recommendations for the guidance based on information gathered from patients who were asked to relate their experiences following treatment within the Network.
The planned, step-by-step guide to communicating significant news has been based on the work of Peter Kaye (1996) and Robert Buckman (1992) and the recommendations made in the ‘Breaking Bad News’ study by Walker, Bradburn and Maher (1996).
There is evidence that communication skills training, recommended in the guidance, can improve the performance of cancer health care professionals in their interaction with patients (Wilkinson et al 1999, Fallowfield et al 2002). The steering group would like to thank the CPG for their significant contribution in developing this guidance booklet.
You can download the document as a pdf from this site, read through the document as a set of webpages or contact the North London Cancer Network to order print versions (free).
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