Consent for Investigating and Treating Adults with Cancer

The importance of the consenting process, as a key activity in patient care, has been recognised by the Department of Health with the production of a policy aimed at ensuring patient focused national standards. Cancer treatments are complex and multi-disciplinary encompassing difficult issues around outcomes and toxicity. This article looks at the process within the UK Cancer network and addresses some of the situations which occur in clinical practice. Examples of difficult scenarios are given to illustrate the application of the basic principles.