About Cancer Council’s Clinical Practice Guidelines

About Cancer Council’s Clinical Practice Guidelines 

Clinical practice guidelines bring together the best available evidence to inform recommendations for the prevention and diagnosis of disease and treatment for the care of patients.  

Cancer Council Australia develops and disseminates high quality, evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis and management of cancer, to inform clinical practice and ultimately improve cancer management in Australia.  

Established in 1994, first under the banner of the Australian Cancer Network and then Clinical Guidelines Network, Cancer Council Australia has significant experience in producing cancer-related guidelines for the Australian health context.  

For the development of guidelines, Cancer Council Australia calls on a network of more than 70 clinical and interest groups, and collaborates with the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia and many other organisations to draw upon their members' clinical expertise to produce clinical practice guidelines. 

Frequently asked questions

Where can I find a full version of a guideline? 

Due to the dynamic nature of the site that allows us to update content more regularly than printed documents, Cancer Council Australia cannot produce or offer full versions of the guidelines as downloadable documents. This practice supports version control and ensures users know they are accessing the most up to date version of the Guidelines. 

Where can I find an old guideline? 

Older guidelines and resources may be available as reference documents, however the evidence used for any recommendations may be out of date once the guidelines have been rescinded. 

If you are looking for a particular version of a guideline that is not available on this page please contact [email protected]. 

I would like to re-use content from Cancer Council Australia’s clinical guidelines, how do I do that? 

If you would like to use content from our clinical practice guidelines site, and it is considered fair dealing then all that is required is correct citation of the material.  

More information on fair dealing can be found at The Australian Copyright Council. 

If you would like to reproduce a significant portion of the guideline content or what might be outside of fair dealing (e.g. more than 200 words or figures/tables), please contact [email protected] with your request. 

What is a public consultation? 

Cancer Council Australia follows NHMRC guidance and policy on public consultation. More information can be found at Public consultation | NHMRC. 

My question hasn’t been answered here, how do I get in contact with you? 

Contact [email protected] with any other questions about our guidelines. 

For queries regarding COSA guidelines, please contact: [email protected]  

Please note: The information on this page is intended for clinicians and health professionals. We cannot respond to enquiries from individuals in regards to their own diagnosis or management.