A named contact person other than the responsible clinician managing the patient in the context of the trial, must be appointed to take responsibility for the administration, collection and checking of the completed EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-LC13 questionnaire. The questionnaire must be taken before consultation with the clinician, according to the EORTC guidelines for QoL assessment. They should be checked to ensure that all questions have been answered; if necessary go back to the patient immediately and ask him or her to fill in any missing items. If an assessment is missed because of administrative failure, the patient should be contacted by telephone or letter and an arrangement should be made for the questionnaire to be taken within a week of the scheduled assessment.