Guideline 75 Section 12: Development of the guideline

Epithelial ovarian cancer Section 12: Development of the guideline

12.1 Introduction

SIGN is a collaborative network of clinicians, other healthcare professionals and patient organisations, funded by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland. SIGN guidelines are developed by multidisciplinary groups using a standard methodology based on a systematic review of the evidence. Further details about SIGN and the guideline development methodology are contained in SIGN 50: A guideline developer’s handbook, available at www.sign.ac.uk

12.2 The guideline development group

Dr Nadeem Siddiqui Chairman	Consultant Gynaecologist and Oncologist, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow
Dr Chris Hardwick Secretary	Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, North Glasgow Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr Ian Aitken	General Practitioner, Glasgow
Mr Andrew Anderson	National Coordinator, Maggie’s Centres, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Mr Roger Black	Head, Scottish Cancer Intelligence Unit, Information and Statistics Division (ISD), Common Services Agency, Edinburgh
Ms Sandra Bredin	Clinical Nurse Specialist, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow
Mrs Anne Coote	Patient Helpline Coordinator, Argyll and Clyde Health Council, Paisley
Mrs Inez Crow	District Nurse, Falkirk
Ms Linda Davidson	Staff Nurse, Crosshouse Hospital, Kilmarnock
Dr Heather Deans	Consultant Radiologist, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Dr Sonia Devereux	General Practitioner, Forfar
Mr Craig Eriksen	Consultant Colorectal Surgeon, Perth Royal Infirmary
Dr Marie Fallon	Senior Lecturer in Palliative Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Dr Hani Gabra	Consultant in Medical Oncology, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Professor David Hole	Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, West of Scotland Cancer Surveillance Unit, Department of Public Health, University of Glasgow
Dr Brian Magowan	Consultant Gynaecologist, Borders General Hospital, Melrose
Mrs Jean McAllister	Principal Biochemist, North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust
Dr David W M Millan	Consultant in Pathology, Western Infirmary, Glasgow
Miss Kath Nattress	Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Dr David Parkin	Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Mr Mark Parsons	Principal Clinical Pharmacist, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Dr Denny Phillips	Consultant Gynaecologist, Perth Royal Infirmary
Dr Nicholas Reed	Clinical Director, Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow
Mr Duncan Service	Information Services Officer, SIGN
Dr Sally Stearns	Health Economist, Health Economics Research Unit, University of Aberdeen
Professor Michael Steele	Professor in Medical Science, University of St Andrews
Mrs Diane Stirling	Macmillan Clinical Nurse Specialist, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Ms Joanne Topalian	Programme Manager, SIGN
Dr Sara Twaddle	Health Economist, North Glasgow Hospitals NHS Trust

The membership of the guideline development group was confirmed following consultation with the member organisations of SIGN. Declarations of interests were made by all members of the guideline development group. Further details are available from the SIGN Executive.

12.3 Systematic literature review

Literature searches were initially conducted in Medline, Embase, Cinahl, Cancerlit, and the Cochrane Library using the year range 1993-2001. The literature search was updated with new material during the course of the guideline development process. Key websites on the Internet were also used, such as the National Guidelines Clearinghouse. These searches were supplemented by the reference lists of relevant papers and group members’ own files. The Medline version of the main search strategies can be found on the SIGN website.

12.4 Consultation and peer review

12.4.1 NATIONAL OPEN MEETING

The national open meeting is the main consultative phase of SIGN guideline development, at which the guideline development group presents their draft recommendations for the first time. The national open meeting for this guideline was held in June 2002 and was attended by representatives of all key specialties relevant to the guideline. The draft guideline was also available on the SIGN website for a limited period at this stage to allow those unable to attend the meeting to contribute to the development of the guideline.

12.4.2 SPECIALIST REVIEW

SIGN is grateful to the following people for commenting on the peer review draft:

Dr James Beattie	Director of Guideline Development, Royal College of General Practitioners (Scotland)
Ms Helen Berrie	District Nurse, Wallace Medical Centre, Falkirk
Dr Kirsty Boyd	Consultant in Palliative Care Medicine, The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
Dr Bernard L Croall	Clinical Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Grampian University Hospitals Trust, Aberdeen
Dr Jo Davis	Consultant Gynaecologist and Oncologist, Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow
Dr Ian Duncan	Reader in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Professor Ian Jacobs	Professor of Gynaecological Oncology, Director of Cancer Institute, Barts and the London Hospital, London
Professor Stan Kaye	Consultant Oncologist, Royal Marsden Hospital, London
Professor Sean Kehoe	Professor of Gynaecological Cancer, Nuffield Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Oxford
Dr Harpreet Kohli	Medical Director, Health Technology Assessment, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
Ms Ruth Payne	Administrator, Ovacome, London
Dr Claud Regnard	Consultant in Palliative Medicine, St Oswald’s Hospice, Newcastle upon Tyne
Dr Terry Rollason	Consultant Histopathologist, Birmingham Women’s Hospital
Professor John Smyth	Consultant Medical Oncologist, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Dr Allan Stevenson	Consultant Radiologist, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Dr Paul Symonds	Reader in Clinical Oncology, Leicester Royal Infirmary

Four general practitioners were also invited to review the draft guideline but did not submit any comments.

12.5 Editorial group

As a final quality control check, the guideline is reviewed by an Editorial Group comprising the relevant specialty representatives on SIGN Council to ensure that the peer reviewers’ comments have been addressed adequately and that any risk of bias in the guideline development process as a whole has been minimised. The Editorial Group for this guideline was as follows:

Mr Douglas Harper	Royal College of Surgeons
Dr Grahame Howard	Royal College of Radiologists, Faculty of Oncology
Professor Gordon Lowe	Chairman of SIGN, Co-editor
Ms Fiona McMillan	Lead Pharmacist, North Glasgow NHS Trust
Dr Gillian Penney	Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Dr Safia Qureshi	Programme Director, SIGN, Co-editor
Dr Bernice West	School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Social Care, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen