University Hospital
Clifford Bridge Road
Walsgrave
Coventry
CV2 2DX

Direct Line: 024 76968771
www.uhcw.nhs.uk

Dear Requester

We acknowledge receipt of your email to UHCW:

Freedom of Information Request Form

If you have submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) your request will be considered and you will receive our response
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days.

The reference number for your email is FOI/935.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please reply
to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely,
UHCW

 
University Hospital
Clifford Bridge Road
Walsgrave
Coventry
CV2 2DX

Direct Line: 024 76968771
www.uhcw.nhs.uk

Our Ref:  FOI/935
Date:  24th May 2021

By email only

Dear Requester

We write further to your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act received 15th April 2021.  We have set out your request,
together with our response below. 

Please could you provide the following information in relation to your
delivery of care, for those patients newly diagnosed with Melanoma cancer
at your Trust. Could you please provide this information in electronic
format back to this email address.

If you could pass this to your ‘Skin Cancer Clinic’ or relevant department
to complete, I would appreciate this.

1. Within your NHS Trust could you confirm what ‘follow up regime’ you
normally provide for newly diagnosed patients by Melanoma Stage (IA-IIC)
and the number of years (1 to 5) the follow up continues for, in line with
your clinical protocols? To help with completion we have inserted a table
below. Or please provide back in excel if easier.

|Melanoma Stage at diagnosis| |No. follow up visits in 1st Year | |No.
follow up visits in 2nd Year | |No. follow up visits in 3rd Year | |No.
follow up visits in 4th Year | |No. follow up visits in 5th Year |
lA - 3 monthly for 12 months
lB - 3 monthly years 1-3, 6 monthly in years 4 & 5
llA - 3 monthly years 1-3, 6 monthly in years 4 & 5
llB - 3 monthly years 1-3, 6 monthly in years 4 & 5
llC - 3 monthly years 1-3, 6 monthly in years 4 & 5

2. Could you please provide a copy of the latest service specification for
your Melanoma skin cancer service at the Trust, which shows the care
pathway that you provide? Normally found under ‘Schedule 2’ of the
Standard contract in place, with your commissioner
There is not a defined specification for Melanoma skin cancer in the
commissioner contract for Dermatology

3. Could you please confirm if you use any ‘send away dermatopathology
services’ within your NHS Trust? A send away or referral service is one
where the pathology work is contracted out to a third party laboratory.
Yes or No
Yes

4. Could you please confirm for your Trust in 2018/19, the following
numbers of newly diagnosed Melanoma skin cancer patients and the number of
these who have received a subsequent Sentinel Lymph Node biopsy by
Melanoma Stage?

To help with the completion, we have inserted a table below for ease.

| Stage | | Total Patients reviewed | | Total Sentinel lymph nodes
completed |
ALL
IA
IB
IIA
IIB
IIC

Please note: To help with this question 4, the OPCS code for Sentinel
lymph node is ‘O14.2 + ICD-10 code C43 Malignant melanoma of skin’, then
supported by the cancer stage.

TNM StageGroup Total  
1 1-10  
1A 50  
1B 46  
2 1-10  
2A 14  
2B 14  
2C 11  
3 1-10  
4 1-10  
Not recorded 1-10  
Total 147  

Please note that due to the availability of inferred or derived
information from other sources, there may be a risk of identification
owing to the very low numbers involved. For this reason, we are only able
to provide you with aggregated answers.

As we have provided the information that we do hold your request is now
closed.  We trust that this is satisfactory but if you are dissatisfied
with the way that it has been handled you have the right to ask for an
internal review.  Internal review requests should be submitted within two
months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and
should be addressed to: Geoff Stokes, Director of Corporate Affairs, UHCW,
Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry CV2 2DX.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

Yours sincerely

Andrea Phillips
FOI & Access to Health Records Manager