Appraisal group
   
46 It will of course be for NICE to determine its precise working arrangements. However, we envisage (subject to approval by Parliament) that the appraisal group will be a statutory sub-committee of NICE's executive board.
   
47 We suggest that the appraisal group should have a "core" membership representing professional, academic, NHS and patient perspectives. We suggest the following composition:
     
  Chair: a respected clinician, preferably with expertise in research, who is capable of understanding the perspective both of hospital and general practice
     
  Members:

2 medical practitioners

a nursing generalist (ideally someone with experience in both hospital and community nursing)

a public health physician/clinician with expertise in medical statistics or epidemiology (preferably 1 of each)

a health policy academic

3 NHS managers representing commissioners and providers (eg trust chief executive, HA chief executive and a manager of a Primary Care Group or Primary Care Trust)

2 representatives of patient or carer groups

(pharmaceutical interventions only)

a clinical pharmacologist

a clinical pharmacist

(surgical/device-related interventions only)

a surgeon

a medical physicist

  Observers:

a representative of the NHS Executive

a representative of the Welsh Office

an assessor from the Committee on Safety of Medicines or the EC Committee for Proprietary Medical Products

     
48 In addition, the appraisal group will wish (through the secretariat) to have access to a wide range of subject specialists who would comment in writing, and on occasion at the committee's deliberations. Their role would not be to contribute to the final decisions of the appraisal group, but to advise on specialist aspects of procedures under discussion.