NICE PH32: status, replacement and live recommendation

Reference status: checked on 23 October 2026. PH32 is NICE's 2011 public health guideline on skin cancer prevention. In February 2016, recommendations 1 to 5 were updated and replaced by NICE guideline NG34 on sunlight exposure: risks and benefits, leaving PH32 recommendation 6, on providing shade, as its remaining standalone recommendation.

This is a reference to what the two NICE guidance codes say. It is not guidance itself. For the source documents, NICE's own pages are authoritative. The distinction matters for anyone searching the code rather than a general explanation of sun exposure, including surfers trying to establish whether an older citation still supports a current claim.

What NICE PH32 is, and why its status matters

PH32 is NICE's public health guideline Skin cancer prevention, published on 26 January 2011. Consultation documents use the fuller descriptive title skin cancer prevention: information, resources and environmental changes. That broader wording helps explain why the document ranges beyond an individual's choices during time outdoors. It addresses public health action, information and the built environment.

The key status note is supplied by NICE on the PH32 guidance record: "In February 2016 recommendations 1 to 5 were updated and replaced by NICE's guideline on sunlight exposure: risks and benefits." In practical terms, PH32 should not be treated as a wholly current six-part source for individual sun protection advice. Recommendations 1 to 5 belong with their replacement, NG34.

Recommendation 6 remains the separate part of PH32 that stands on its own. It concerns providing shade, not a surfer's choice of cover or sunscreen before a session. This makes the code useful in a specific way: it remains relevant when the question is about shade in the design of a place, development or workplace. It is not the current reference for the wider messages that a reader may expect to find under a search for "NICE PH32".

For surf exposure planning, this status distinction prevents a common category error. PH32 can establish the continuing NICE recommendation on shade. It cannot by itself be cited as if all its earlier recommendations were still the current NICE position. The existing reference on cover as the primary control addresses the practical hierarchy used for a surf session; this page records the status of the NICE codes.

The part of PH32 that remains: recommendation 6

PH32 recommendation 6 is headed "Providing shade". It is addressed to architects, designers, developers, planners and employers. Its audience is important. The surviving recommendation is about decisions that shape an outdoor setting, rather than instructions written for an individual deciding how to prepare for time on the water.

For new buildings, NICE says to "consider providing areas of shade created either artificially or naturally". For new developments, NICE says to "ensure there is adequate access to areas of shade for people with a disability". These are the operative statements to identify when PH32 is cited today.

The difference between the two forms of wording should be retained when describing the recommendation. The new-building statement is framed as something to consider. The new-development statement uses "ensure" and specifies adequate access for people with a disability. Collapsing them into a general claim that PH32 requires shade everywhere would lose the wording and the setting that NICE actually gives.

In a coastal setting, shade may be relevant before or after a session, around access points, at workplaces or in spaces used by the public. But PH32 recommendation 6 is not a site-by-site assessment tool and does not set out how to plan a particular surf day. It also does not replace the need to read exposure conditions. It is a built-environment recommendation, retained from the 2011 guideline after the other recommendations were replaced.

Decision rule: cite PH32 only where the point being made is its remaining recommendation on providing shade. If the point concerns sunlight messaging, groups at risk, campaigns or practical sun protection information, check NG34 instead.

What PH32 does not say about sunscreen and protective clothing

PH32 carries an explicit limitation that is easily misread. NICE states: "there are no recommendations on the use of non-information related resources alone" and gives the example "(such as protective clothing or sunscreen)". This is not wording that says protective clothing or sunscreen are ineffective. NICE attributes the absence of recommendations to a lack of evidence at the time.

That distinction is central to accurate citation. An absence of a PH32 recommendation on those resources alone is not a judgement that they do not work. It records the evidence position used for that guideline. It should not be converted into a claim that NICE rejected protective clothing or sunscreen, nor into a claim that PH32 provides a current standalone sunscreen protocol.

The wording "alone" is also part of the meaning. PH32's scope included information, resources and environmental changes, and the stated gap concerns non-information related resources on their own. A short citation that removes this context can imply much more than the guideline says.

For readers whose practical concern is a wetsuit line, hands, lips, ears or another exposed site, the useful next step is not to force PH32 into a product rule. The relevant current NICE code is NG34, while the practical details within NG34 need to be located in the correct part of that guidance. The existing page on the UV index explains how to interpret that measure before a session, rather than treating an old code as a session forecast.

PH32 therefore has two clear present-day uses in a reference context: to identify its limited live shade recommendation, and to document precisely what it did not recommend because of the evidence available at the time. Neither use makes it a complete current guide to individual sun protection.

NG34: the guideline that replaced PH32 recommendations 1 to 5

NG34 is NICE guideline Sunlight exposure: risks and benefits, published on 9 February 2016. It is the guideline NICE identifies as replacing PH32 recommendations 1 to 5. Its recommendation sections are, in order: at-risk groups; message content; mass media campaigns; local strategic approach.

This structure shows that NG34 is also a public health guideline rather than a personalised surf-session instruction sheet. Its content addresses who should be considered in public health messaging, what messages should contain, how mass media campaigns are approached and how a local strategic approach is considered. It is the current reference point where a claim belongs to those replaced areas of PH32.

NICE records one noted change since publication: "April 2023: We updated the supporting information for practitioners on the minimum sun protection factor needed to protect against UVB, to bring it into line with current practice." That change is specifically described as an update to supporting information for practitioners. It does not turn the practical figures into numbered recommendations, and it does not alter the basic relationship between the two guidance codes.

When reading a quotation, keep the code and location together. PH32 recommendation 6 concerns shade. NG34 contains the replacement recommendation sections. NG34's practical figures appear in supporting information for practitioners, rather than in the numbered recommendations. This is why a search within the recommendations may not produce the SPF figure a reader expects.

A useful citation should therefore name NG34 for current material formerly covered by PH32 recommendations 1 to 5, and should identify whether the material comes from a numbered recommendation or supporting information. That level of precision avoids presenting a supporting-information figure as if it were the text of a recommendation.

Who NG34 identifies as at risk

NG34 recommendation 1.1.1 identifies several at-risk groups. NICE lists children, particularly babies, and young people; people who tend to burn rather than tan; people with a personal or family history of skin cancer; outdoor workers; and groups with "high, but intermittent, exposure to sunlight". The last category is particularly relevant to patterns of exposure that are concentrated rather than evenly distributed across daily life.

The same recommendation identifies people with little or no sun exposure. NICE says: "These people are at increased risk of low vitamin D status". This is part of why the NG34 title includes both risks and benefits. It is not accurate to extract a skin-cancer-prevention message from the code while omitting the vitamin D context that NICE includes.

For a person who surfs several times a week, the list is a reference point, not a diagnosis or a calculation of individual risk. The guidance does not say that every surfer belongs to one defined category. It does show that public health messaging should account for people with high but intermittent sunlight exposure, alongside the other groups NICE names.

The grouping also explains why a simple label such as "outdoor person" is not enough for reading the guidance. Outdoor workers are named separately. So are children and young people, people who burn rather than tan, and people with a personal or family history of skin cancer. A careful account should preserve those separate groups rather than compressing them into a single general audience.

If the question concerns an individual skin change or whether medical assessment is needed, this reference does not answer that question. The existing page on checking skin and when to see a GP covers that separate procedural subject. This page is confined to the wording, status and correct use of PH32 and NG34.

Where NG34 puts its practical sun protection figures

The practical figures associated with NG34 sit in its supporting information for practitioners, not in the numbered recommendations themselves. This is a material distinction. A reader opening the recommendation sections and looking for an SPF number will not find that figure there, because the figure is located in the supporting information.

NICE's supporting information says: "Provide at least sun protection factor (SPF)30 to protect against UVB". It adds: "Preferably, the label should state that it provides good UVA protection". For quantity, it states "around 35 ml or 6 to 8 teaspoons of lotion". On application, it says sunscreen should be "applied twice to exposed areas of skin: half an hour before". For reapplication, NICE states: "Sunscreen needs to be reapplied liberally, frequently and according to the manufacturer's instructions."

These are source-specific statements. They should be described as supporting information for practitioners within NG34, rather than paraphrased as PH32 recommendations. That is especially important where an older document code is being used in a policy, article or briefing.

The figures also do not displace the distinction on this site between cover and sunscreen in surf conditions. The purpose here is documentary: to show where NICE puts the practical information and what it says. It is not to score products, compare commercial options or turn a public health reference into a shopping guide.

Time in sunlight and vitamin D in NG34

NG34 states: "When possible, only a limited amount of time should be spent in strong sunlight". It also says: "In the UK, sunlight is strongest between 11am and 3pm between March and October." These statements belong to NG34, not to the remaining shade recommendation in PH32.

The guidance also describes vitamin D in terms of "Exposing commonly uncovered areas of skin such as forearms and hands, for short periods". This wording should be read as part of NG34's risks-and-benefits framing. It is not a tailored account of a surf session, where the commonly uncovered areas and actual conditions may differ from the examples in the wording.

For citation purposes, avoid turning the UK timing statement into a claim that exposure outside those hours is absent, or that all sessions within them have identical conditions. The guidance statement identifies when sunlight is strongest in the UK between March and October. It does not replace a reading of the day's conditions or calculate an individual dose.

This is also why a reference page can be useful alongside, rather than in place of, procedural surf material. NG34 supplies the public health wording. A session plan deals with exposure as it occurs in the water. Keeping those tasks separate means the NICE code is neither overstated nor used beyond what its text supports.

How to cite PH32 and NG34 correctly

Use PH32 when the cited point is recommendation 6, "Providing shade". Name the recommendation, identify its audience of architects, designers, developers, planners and employers, and retain the difference between its wording for new buildings and new developments. This is the part of PH32 that remains standing on its own.

Use NG34 for the material that replaced PH32 recommendations 1 to 5. That includes its sections on at-risk groups, message content, mass media campaigns and local strategic approach. Use NG34 supporting information for practitioners when citing the SPF, UVA, quantity, application or reapplication statements. Do not describe those practical figures as numbered recommendations.

A citation of PH32 for current sun protection advice to individuals is citing superseded text where it relies on recommendations 1 to 5. The current reference for that replaced material is NG34. Conversely, citing NG34 without recognising PH32 recommendation 6 can obscure the fact that the shade recommendation remains separately in PH32.

Limits of this reference: it does not assess a person's skin, provide medical advice, interpret a particular forecast, compare products or set a plan for a specific surf session. It does not apply as a substitute for professional advice for an individual concern. It is limited to the status, wording and relationship of NICE PH32 and NG34 as checked on 23 October 2026.