A new short practical quality of life questionnaire for use in head and neck oncology outpatient clinics.

A new short questionnaire to assess the quality of life of head and neck patients has been designed at the University of Liverpool Head and Neck Oncology Department. The questionnaire is short, simple and can be easily completed by a patient whilst in the waiting room before consultation. It is filled in 6 months after completion of treatment and shows very good correlation with the standard long exhaustive questionnaires that are difficult to complete on every patient in a busy National Health Service clinic. The University of Liverpool questionnaire provides a simple score from 0%-100% which should prove valuable in the assessment of quality of care and help with decisions regarding treatment options in head and neck cancer patients.