Skin cancer in the UK and the NHS

1. 1
   Your GPNo national standard; NG12 sets the referral rulesTarget Same-day decision at the appointment

   NICE NG12 section 1.7 is short and specific. For melanoma: refer on a suspected cancer pathway with a weighted 7-point checklist score of 3 or more (1.7.1), or if dermoscopy suggests melanoma (1.7.2), and consider referral for suspected nodular melanoma (1.7.3). For squamous cell carcinoma: consider a suspected cancer pathway referral (1.7.4). For basal cell carcinoma: consider a non-urgent referral (1.7.5), and only consider an urgent one if delay would have a significant impact because of site or size (1.7.6). Recommendation 1.7.7 sends the GP to CSG8 for who should excise a suspected basal cell carcinoma. The timed pathway asks that the referral carry a locally agreed minimum dataset: site, size, shape, duration, evolution, bleeding, itching, ultraviolet exposure, family history, previous skin cancer, chronic skin inflammation, immunosuppression, anticoagulant status, performance status and whether the person has a pacemaker.

   Sources: NICE NG12: suspected cancer, recognition and referral, section 1.7 skin cancers. 1.7.1 refer on a suspected cancer pathway for melanoma with a weighted 7-point checklist score of 3 or more; 1.7.2 refer if dermoscopy suggests melanoma; 1.7.3 consider referral for nodular melanoma; 1.7.4 consider a suspected cancer pathway referral for a lesion that raises the suspicion of squamous cell carcinoma; 1.7.5 consider a non-urgent referral for a lesion that raises the suspicion of a basal cell carcinoma; 1.7.6 only consider an urgent referral for a suspected basal cell carcinoma if delay would have a significant impact because of site or size; 1.7.7 follow CSG8 on who should excise suspected basal cell carcinomas. Guideline published 23 June 2015, last updated 15 April 2026 (2026-04-15); NHS England: implementing a timed skin cancer diagnostic pathway, publication approval reference PAR1350, 21 October 2022. Around 215,000 skin cancers a year in England; over 155,000 new basal cell carcinomas in 2018 (around 72 percent of skin cancers), around 45,000 cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (21 percent) and around 15,000 melanomas (7 percent); around 93 percent of people referred urgently with a suspicious skin lesion do not have cancer, with cancer alliance variation from 81 to 98 percent; the slowest 5 percent of referrals take 27 days or longer to be seen; about a third of people with squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma are not referred on an urgent cancer pathway; annex 1 puts basal cell carcinoma out of scope (2022-10-21); NICE CSG8: improving outcomes for people with skin tumours including melanoma. Published 22 February 2006, last updated 25 May 2010, last reviewed 23 May 2019; NICE decided in December 2020 to retain but not update it. It recommends two levels of multidisciplinary team, that people with precancerous lesions be treated by their GP or referred, and that people needing specialist diagnosis be referred to a doctor trained to diagnose skin cancer (2010-05-25)

2. 2
   ReferralUrgent suspected cancer referral, or a routine referral for a suspected basal cell carcinomaTarget Skin is 29.2 percent of all urgent suspected cancer referrals in England

   In July 2026, 89,978 of England's 308,200 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer, the largest single stream and nearly twice the number for breast; across April to July 2026 the figure was 304,485 of 1,124,238, or 27.1 percent. NHS England's own account of the effect is blunt: dermatology receives more urgent referrals for suspected cancer than any other specialty, about half of the million dermatology referrals a year are urgent suspected skin cancer referrals, and about 8 percent of those turn out to be melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma. The timed pathway puts it at around 93 percent of urgently referred people not having cancer, with cancer alliance variation from 81 to 98 percent. The pathway also records that about a third of people who do have squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma were not referred urgently at all.

   Sources: NHS England: cancer waiting times monthly combined data, April to July 2026, provisional. July 2026, England provider totals: 89,978 of 308,200 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer; 68,719 of 78,719 suspected skin cancer pathways met the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard (87.3 percent); 7,936 of 8,994 skin treatments met the 31-day standard (88.2 percent); 5,010 of 5,733 met the 62-day standard (87.4 percent), split 3,814 of 4,421 on the urgent suspected cancer route (86.3 percent) and 1,196 of 1,312 on the consultant upgrade route (91.2 percent). Across April to July 2026, 304,485 of 1,124,238 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer, 27.1 percent (2026-09-10); NHS England: a teledermatology roadmap, implementing safe and effective teledermatology triage pathways and processes. About 3 million dermatology outpatient appointments in England in the year to April 2022; dermatology receives more urgent referrals for suspected cancer than any other specialty; about half of the 1 million dermatology referrals a year are urgent suspected skin cancer referrals, of which about 8 percent turn out to be melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma; macroscopic images alone can diagnose many benign lesions and send some squamous cell carcinomas and many basal cell carcinomas straight to surgery, but both dermoscopic and macroscopic images are needed for pigmented lesions; rashes and lesions may be harder to assess in people with brown and black skin. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026 (2023-10-26); NHS England: implementing a timed skin cancer diagnostic pathway, publication approval reference PAR1350, 21 October 2022. Around 215,000 skin cancers a year in England; over 155,000 new basal cell carcinomas in 2018 (around 72 percent of skin cancers), around 45,000 cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (21 percent) and around 15,000 melanomas (7 percent); around 93 percent of people referred urgently with a suspicious skin lesion do not have cancer, with cancer alliance variation from 81 to 98 percent; the slowest 5 percent of referrals take 27 days or longer to be seen; about a third of people with squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma are not referred on an urgent cancer pathway; annex 1 puts basal cell carcinoma out of scope (2022-10-21)

3. 3
   The photographTeledermatology triage: a specialist reviews macroscopic and dermoscopic images before any appointment is offeredTarget The clock stops for a non-cancer result on the date you are told

   A large and growing share of this pathway never reaches a face-to-face appointment. The cancer waiting times guidance sets the rule: for a teledermatology pathway the first seen date is the earliest of an appointment in secondary care where a trained professional takes a dermoscopic image, the date a specialist reviews an image taken in primary care before referral, or the date the person is seen in clinic. Where a specialist reviews an image, the person must be told the result either way, and if cancer is ruled out the Faster Diagnosis Standard end date is the date of that communication. NHS England's roadmap is explicit about what images can and cannot do: macroscopic images alone can diagnose many benign lesions and send some squamous cell carcinomas and many basal cell carcinomas straight to surgery, but both macroscopic and dermoscopic images are needed for pigmented lesions, and lesions may be harder to assess in people with brown and black skin.

   Sources: NHS England: national cancer waiting times monitoring dataset guidance. Section 3.2: the treatment standards apply to ICD-10 C00 to C97 excluding basal cell carcinoma of skin, and to D05; section 5.10 puts C43 and C44 in scope but names seven excluded conditions (basal cell carcinoma, multicentric basal cell carcinoma, morphoeic basal cell carcinoma, fibroepithelial basal cell carcinoma, basosquamous carcinoma, metatypical carcinoma and pilomatrix carcinoma) and puts lentigo maligna, Bowen's disease, intraepidermal carcinoma and keratoacanthoma out of scope as well. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026; its full text was read through the site's own WordPress interface (2025-04-09); NHS England: a teledermatology roadmap, implementing safe and effective teledermatology triage pathways and processes. About 3 million dermatology outpatient appointments in England in the year to April 2022; dermatology receives more urgent referrals for suspected cancer than any other specialty; about half of the 1 million dermatology referrals a year are urgent suspected skin cancer referrals, of which about 8 percent turn out to be melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma; macroscopic images alone can diagnose many benign lesions and send some squamous cell carcinomas and many basal cell carcinomas straight to surgery, but both dermoscopic and macroscopic images are needed for pigmented lesions; rashes and lesions may be harder to assess in people with brown and black skin. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026 (2023-10-26); NHS England: implementing a timed skin cancer diagnostic pathway, publication approval reference PAR1350, 21 October 2022. Around 215,000 skin cancers a year in England; over 155,000 new basal cell carcinomas in 2018 (around 72 percent of skin cancers), around 45,000 cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (21 percent) and around 15,000 melanomas (7 percent); around 93 percent of people referred urgently with a suspicious skin lesion do not have cancer, with cancer alliance variation from 81 to 98 percent; the slowest 5 percent of referrals take 27 days or longer to be seen; about a third of people with squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma are not referred on an urgent cancer pathway; annex 1 puts basal cell carcinoma out of scope (2022-10-21)

4. 4
   Artificial intelligence triageNICE HTG746 conditionally allows one device during a three-year evidence generation periodTarget Around 30 percent of cases potentially discharged from the pathway

   NICE recommendation 1.1 of HTG746 allows Deep Ensemble for Recognition of Malignancy (DERM) to be used within teledermatology services in the NHS during a three-year evidence generation period, only while the evidence in the agreed plan is being generated and once the device has regulatory approval including NHS England's Digital Technology Assessment Criteria. Recommendation 1.2 requires a healthcare professional review for people with black or brown skin and regular monitoring of performance. NHS England's response adds that patients must be given information and informed consent before their images are analysed, that a site should start with a second clinical read before moving to autonomous use, and that the second read for people with black or brown skin should continue throughout the three years. NHS England's stated reason for pursuing it is capacity: in 2023/24 over 650,000 people were referred onto the urgent suspected skin cancer pathway and 120,000 did not have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days.

   Sources: NICE HTG746: artificial intelligence technologies for assessing and triaging skin lesions referred to the urgent suspected skin cancer pathway, early value assessment. Published 1 May 2025 as HTE24, migrated to HealthTech guidance and last updated 17 March 2026. Recommendation 1.1 allows Deep Ensemble for Recognition of Malignancy (DERM) within teledermatology services during a three-year evidence generation period, only while the evidence in the evidence generation plan is being generated and once it has regulatory approval including NHS England's Digital Technology Assessment Criteria; 1.2 requires a healthcare professional review for people with black or brown skin and regular monitoring of performance (2026-03-17); NHS England: AI based skin lesion analysis technology, the national response to the early value assessment. In 2023/24 over 650,000 people were referred onto the urgent suspected skin cancer pathway and 120,000 did not have cancer diagnosed or ruled out within 28 days; DERM has the potential to discharge around 30 percent of cases from the pathway. NHS England asks that patients are given information and give informed consent before DERM is used, that a site starts with a second clinical read, that a second read always takes place for people with black or brown skin throughout the three-year evidence generation period, and that sites join the AI in Dermatology Getting It Right First Time community of practice. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026 (2025-12-11)

5. 5
   Diagnosis or all-clear28 days from referral to being told (the Faster Diagnosis Standard)Target 75 percent, rising to 80 percent; skin achieved 87.3 percent in July 2026

   68,719 of 78,719 suspected skin cancer pathways met the 28-day standard in July 2026, 87.3 percent, against 79.3 percent for all cancers. Skin is one of the best performers on this measure and that is not an accident: most of these pathways end with a specialist looking at an image or a lesion and saying no. NHS England's 2023 letter making the Faster Diagnosis Standard the headline measure said performance against breast and skin specifically would need to be above 90 percent for the standard to rise to 80 percent. The timed pathway sets out exactly when the clock stops: when a clinical diagnosis is given, when a histological diagnosis is given after biopsy, or when a decision to treat a lesion is made because cancer cannot be excluded, whichever comes first.

   Sources: NHS England: cancer waiting times monthly combined data, April to July 2026, provisional. July 2026, England provider totals: 89,978 of 308,200 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer; 68,719 of 78,719 suspected skin cancer pathways met the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard (87.3 percent); 7,936 of 8,994 skin treatments met the 31-day standard (88.2 percent); 5,010 of 5,733 met the 62-day standard (87.4 percent), split 3,814 of 4,421 on the urgent suspected cancer route (86.3 percent) and 1,196 of 1,312 on the consultant upgrade route (91.2 percent). Across April to July 2026, 304,485 of 1,124,238 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer, 27.1 percent (2026-09-10); NHS England: changes to cancer waiting times standards from 1 October 2023. The two-week wait standard was removed in favour of the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard and the ten standards were rationalised to three; the letter says performance against breast and skin specifically would need to be above 90 percent for the Faster Diagnosis Standard to rise to 80 percent. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026 (2023-08-17); NHS England: implementing a timed skin cancer diagnostic pathway, publication approval reference PAR1350, 21 October 2022. Around 215,000 skin cancers a year in England; over 155,000 new basal cell carcinomas in 2018 (around 72 percent of skin cancers), around 45,000 cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (21 percent) and around 15,000 melanomas (7 percent); around 93 percent of people referred urgently with a suspicious skin lesion do not have cancer, with cancer alliance variation from 81 to 98 percent; the slowest 5 percent of referrals take 27 days or longer to be seen; about a third of people with squamous cell carcinoma or melanoma are not referred on an urgent cancer pathway; annex 1 puts basal cell carcinoma out of scope (2022-10-21); GOV.UK: waiting times for suspected and diagnosed cancer patients, July 2026 (the definitions of the 28, 31 and 62 day standards; published 10 September 2026) (2026-09-10)

6. 6
   Treatment31 days from the decision to treat to the first treatmentTarget 96 percent; skin achieved 88.2 percent in July 2026 (basal cell carcinoma not counted)

   7,936 of 8,994 skin treatments met the 31-day standard in July 2026, 88.2 percent, split 5,875 of 6,605 first treatments (88.9 percent) and 2,061 of 2,389 subsequent treatments (86.3 percent). For most people the treatment is a local anaesthetic excision, often at the same appointment as the diagnosis. The guidance is careful about what counts: a surgical biopsy for diagnosis does not count as a first treatment unless the tumour is effectively removed by it, and neither does a sentinel node biopsy. Each squamous cell carcinoma counts separately, not just the first, though several treated in one appointment can pragmatically be counted as one pathway.

   Sources: NHS England: cancer waiting times monthly combined data, April to July 2026, provisional. July 2026, England provider totals: 89,978 of 308,200 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer; 68,719 of 78,719 suspected skin cancer pathways met the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard (87.3 percent); 7,936 of 8,994 skin treatments met the 31-day standard (88.2 percent); 5,010 of 5,733 met the 62-day standard (87.4 percent), split 3,814 of 4,421 on the urgent suspected cancer route (86.3 percent) and 1,196 of 1,312 on the consultant upgrade route (91.2 percent). Across April to July 2026, 304,485 of 1,124,238 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer, 27.1 percent (2026-09-10); NHS England: national cancer waiting times monitoring dataset guidance. Section 3.2: the treatment standards apply to ICD-10 C00 to C97 excluding basal cell carcinoma of skin, and to D05; section 5.10 puts C43 and C44 in scope but names seven excluded conditions (basal cell carcinoma, multicentric basal cell carcinoma, morphoeic basal cell carcinoma, fibroepithelial basal cell carcinoma, basosquamous carcinoma, metatypical carcinoma and pilomatrix carcinoma) and puts lentigo maligna, Bowen's disease, intraepidermal carcinoma and keratoacanthoma out of scope as well. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026; its full text was read through the site's own WordPress interface (2025-04-09)

7. 7
   Referral to treatment62 days from an urgent referral to the first treatmentTarget 85 percent; skin achieved 87.4 percent in July 2026 (basal cell carcinoma not counted)

   5,010 of 5,733 met the 62-day standard in July 2026, 87.4 percent, split 3,814 of 4,421 on the urgent suspected cancer route (86.3 percent) and 1,196 of 1,312 on the consultant upgrade route (91.2 percent). Put that 5,733 beside the 89,978 urgent referrals made in the same month and the shape of this pathway is visible in a single comparison. Part of the gap is that most referrals are not cancer. The rest is that the commonest cancer among the ones that are is not counted here at all.

   Sources: NHS England: cancer waiting times monthly combined data, April to July 2026, provisional. July 2026, England provider totals: 89,978 of 308,200 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer; 68,719 of 78,719 suspected skin cancer pathways met the 28-day Faster Diagnosis Standard (87.3 percent); 7,936 of 8,994 skin treatments met the 31-day standard (88.2 percent); 5,010 of 5,733 met the 62-day standard (87.4 percent), split 3,814 of 4,421 on the urgent suspected cancer route (86.3 percent) and 1,196 of 1,312 on the consultant upgrade route (91.2 percent). Across April to July 2026, 304,485 of 1,124,238 urgent suspected cancer referrals were for suspected skin cancer, 27.1 percent (2026-09-10); NHS England: national cancer waiting times monitoring dataset guidance. Section 3.2: the treatment standards apply to ICD-10 C00 to C97 excluding basal cell carcinoma of skin, and to D05; section 5.10 puts C43 and C44 in scope but names seven excluded conditions (basal cell carcinoma, multicentric basal cell carcinoma, morphoeic basal cell carcinoma, fibroepithelial basal cell carcinoma, basosquamous carcinoma, metatypical carcinoma and pilomatrix carcinoma) and puts lentigo maligna, Bowen's disease, intraepidermal carcinoma and keratoacanthoma out of scope as well. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026; its full text was read through the site's own WordPress interface (2025-04-09); Office for National Statistics: cancer registration statistics quality and methodology information. "We have been advised by expert epidemiologists and members of the former Steering Committee on Cancer Registration that non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is greatly under-registered. Therefore, the published tables present counts and rates for all cancers and for all cancers excluding NMSC (code 173 in ICD-8 and ICD-9, and C44 in ICD-10) to ensure that the reported figures are meaningful" (2026-09-25)

8. 8
   AfterwardsNo national follow-up standard for keratinocyte cancersTarget Quality statement 4: access to a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist for melanoma, high-risk squamous cell carcinoma or a rare skin cancer

   NICE QS130 statement 4 gives a right to a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist to people with melanoma, high-risk squamous cell carcinoma or a rare skin cancer. It does not extend to basal cell carcinoma, which is consistent with how the rest of the system treats it and is worth knowing if you have one on your face. Having had one skin cancer raises the chance of another, so what most people get afterwards is advice on checking their own skin and on sun protection rather than scheduled scans. Reconstructive or cosmetic surgery after the definitive treatment does not count as a subsequent cancer treatment in the waiting-time dataset, and neither does psychological support.

   Sources: NICE QS130: skin cancer quality standard, published 21 September 2016, last updated 24 January 2024. Six statements: 1 integrated care boards work with local partners on strategies to raise awareness of skin cancer and the risks of over-exposure to sunlight and artificial ultraviolet light, particularly for at-risk groups (new 2024); 2 people with suspected melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma or a rare skin cancer are referred on a suspected cancer pathway to have a diagnosis confirmed or ruled out within 28 days; 3 dermoscopy at specialist assessment for suspected melanoma; 4 access to a skin cancer clinical nurse specialist for melanoma, high-risk squamous cell carcinoma or a rare skin cancer; 5 BRAF analysis in stage 2B to 4 primary melanoma; 6 a staging scan in stage 2C to 4 melanoma (new 2024) (2024-01-24); NHS England: national cancer waiting times monitoring dataset guidance. Section 3.2: the treatment standards apply to ICD-10 C00 to C97 excluding basal cell carcinoma of skin, and to D05; section 5.10 puts C43 and C44 in scope but names seven excluded conditions (basal cell carcinoma, multicentric basal cell carcinoma, morphoeic basal cell carcinoma, fibroepithelial basal cell carcinoma, basosquamous carcinoma, metatypical carcinoma and pilomatrix carcinoma) and puts lentigo maligna, Bowen's disease, intraepidermal carcinoma and keratoacanthoma out of scope as well. The page answered HTTP 202 with an empty web application firewall challenge to OnCo on 25 September 2026; its full text was read through the site's own WordPress interface (2025-04-09); NHS: treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer. Surgery is the main treatment; radiotherapy, targeted medicines and immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy and chemotherapy cream are also used (2026-09-16)

The NHS position of every approved product is on the NHS coverage page; the same decisions by country are on HTA decisions.

Match a report to targets and drugs on the biomarker matrix.

Melanoma Focus and the Melanoma Helpline

Charity

• A confidential freephone helpline on 0808 801 0777 staffed by specialist skin cancer nurses, open 1pm to 2pm and 7pm to 9pm Monday to Friday and 7pm to 9pm on Sunday, with a message service outside those hours
• Support groups and information for patients, carers and healthcare professionals
• Guidance on how to take a photograph if a GP asks for one
• It says plainly that the nurses cannot diagnose melanoma by telephone or from a photograph

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British Association of Dermatologists patient information (Skin Health Info)

Charity

• Patient leaflets on basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma and the treatments used for them
• A jargon buster and a directory of patient advocacy and support groups
• The service standards the NHS skin cancer service is measured against, including for Mohs surgery

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Skcin (the Karen Clifford Skin Cancer Charity)

Charity

• Prevention and early detection campaigns covering both melanoma and the keratinocyte cancers
• Accreditation schemes for schools, nurseries, workplaces and outdoor venues
• The VAT Burn campaign to reclassify SPF30 and above sunscreen as an essential healthcare item rather than a product subject to the standard 20 percent VAT rate

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Changing Faces

Charity

• A Skin Camouflage Service and a support and information line on 0300 012 0275
• Support for people living with a visible difference, including a scar on the face after skin cancer surgery
• This is the charity that covers the part of this disease nothing else does: most skin cancer is cured, and a proportion of the people it is cured in are left with a changed face

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Macmillan Cancer Support

Charity

• Support line, welfare rights advice, grants and information centres
• Skin cancer information for patients and families

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NHS skin cancer information

NHS

• Non-melanoma skin cancer: what it is, symptoms, causes, tests and next steps, and treatment, reviewed 16 September 2026
• Melanoma skin cancer
• Sunscreen and sun safety: shade between 11am and 3pm from March to October, clothing, a wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and at least SPF30 with a 4-star UVA rating, applied generously and reapplied

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Free NHS prescriptions in England (medical exemption certificate)

Cost and benefit

• Anyone being treated for cancer, the effects of cancer or the effects of cancer treatment is entitled to a medical exemption certificate, valid five years for cancer; ask the hospital or GP for form FP92A
• It applies to a basal cell carcinoma as much as to a melanoma
• Prescriptions are free for everyone in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

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More schemes by country on Assistance; costs of care on Costs.

• There is no published list of the 56 English trusts designated as specialist skin cancer centres. The number comes from the GIRFT dermatology national specialty report, which counts them but does not name them, and NHS England publishes no directory of designated skin cancer multidisciplinary teams that could be read. Nor is there any list of the fewer than 30 centres that actually provide Mohs surgery, so a person told they need Mohs cannot find out from a public page where it is done. The centres on this page are trusts whose own websites describe a skin cancer service, not a designated list.
• The Mohs and workforce figures on this page are from September 2021 and there is no newer national count. GIRFT said in the same report that it was considering a separate skin cancer workstream to look at these services in more detail; no such report could be found. So the 79 Mohs surgeons, the 508 whole-time-equivalent dermatologists and the 159 vacancies are five years old and are the most recent national numbers that exist.
• Wales publishes no tumour-site waiting-time figure of any kind. The monthly NHS activity and performance summary reports all cancers together; StatsWales has migrated to stats.gov.wales, whose cancer waiting times cube does carry a tumour-site dimension but renders in a browser only with no comma-separated, JSON or interface download route that answers, and the legacy open data host no longer resolves. Every Welsh row on this page is therefore all-cancer. Northern Ireland publishes skin cancer against the 31-day standard but no 62-day split by tumour site at all, and withheld its 62-day figures for the quarter ending March 2026 pending validation.
• No incidence figure for basal cell carcinoma or cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma on this page should be treated as a count of tumours. The Office for National Statistics excludes C44 from all-cancer totals because non-melanoma skin cancer is greatly under-registered; registries have historically recorded a person rather than each lesion; and the two figures available (NHS England's 155,000 basal cell carcinomas in England in 2018 and Cancer Research UK's 156,000 non-melanoma skin cancers across the UK for 2019 and 2021 to 2022) are close enough to each other to be suspicious, given that one is England only and the other is the whole UK and includes squamous cell carcinoma. The exact registration rule for multiple keratinocyte tumours in the same person could not be read on any published national methodology page.
• Cancer Research UK's non-melanoma skin cancer incidence page is still reporting the sex split, the age distribution and the trend from 2016 to 2018, and its risk-factor page was last reviewed in June 2018, while the headline count has moved to 2019 and 2021 to 2022. The deprivation analysis is from 2013 to 2017 and was calculated in April 2020. No age-standardised rate per 100,000 for UK non-melanoma skin cancer could be read from a served page, because the rate-level breakdowns have moved into interactive data hubs.
• The deprivation gradient for these cancers runs the opposite way to almost every other cancer, and nothing published separates how much of that is genuinely lower ultraviolet exposure and how much is under-diagnosis and under-registration in more deprived groups. Cancer Research UK states the gradient and does not resolve it, and no NHS England analysis of routes to diagnosis for keratinocyte cancer by deprivation could be found.
• No national figure could be found for how many urgent suspected skin cancer referrals are now triaged by teledermatology rather than a face-to-face appointment, or for how many trusts have deployed DERM. NHS England's roadmap and its response to the early value assessment both describe the direction without giving a denominator, and the cancer waiting times dataset records a first seen date without recording whether it was an image or a person.
• No published figure could be found for how many basal cell carcinomas are excised in general practice under a directed or local enhanced service, in England or anywhere else in the UK, or for the current rate of incomplete excision by setting. CSG8's 2010 update cites studies and audits showing higher rates of incomplete excision by GPs than by hospital specialists and asks for quarterly histology feedback to commissioners, but no national collation of that feedback is published.
• The Merkel cell carcinoma randomised trial has no published result. The ISRCTN record lists none, recruitment closed in December 2018 and the registered end date was September 2020; whether the trial reached its target of 400, and what it found, could not be established from any public page.
• NICE CSG8 is the document that governs who may treat which skin cancer and where, and it was published in 2006, last updated in 2010, last reviewed in 2019, and formally retained without update in December 2020. Its criteria still refer to primary care trusts, which have not existed since 2013. Nothing published states what has replaced the accreditation and quarterly-feedback machinery it describes.
• The Northern Ireland Cancer Registry's pages at Queen's University Belfast answered HTTP 403 to every request, with a browser user agent and without one, so no Northern Ireland incidence or survival figure for skin cancer appears on this page. The NHS England pages for the National Genomic Test Directory and the Cancer Drugs Fund list answer a program with an empty web application firewall challenge; the workbooks and PDF they link to under wp-content/uploads do open, and that is where those rows were read.
• No source could be found for what proportion of the UK population uses sunbeds now. The figures Cancer Research UK publishes are from 1999 for adults and 2008 and 2009 for young people, and no more recent national survey could be found. Nor is there any published count of prosecutions or fixed penalties under any of the four sunbed laws, so there is no way to say from a public page whether the under-18 ban is enforced.
• Sunscreen is standard-rated for VAT and there is no NHS entitlement to it for prevention. Skcin's VAT Burn campaign page is the source for the campaign and for the government's reply; no HMRC page could be found that states the rating for sun protection products directly, and no public page sets out the criteria under which sunscreen may be prescribed on the NHS for photodermatoses, so that route is named here without a figure.
• Solar radiation is not covered by the Control of Artificial Optical Radiation at Work Regulations, which regulate artificial sources, and the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council decided in April 2018 not to recommend adding non-melanoma skin cancer from occupational ultraviolet exposure to the list of prescribed diseases. So an outdoor worker whose skin cancer was caused by the sun at work cannot claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit for it. The Health and Safety Executive's guidance is advice rather than duty. No figure could be found for how many UK outdoor workers are covered by an employer sun protection policy.