Become a lay member of the NICE Diagnostics Advisory Committee

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is looking to recruit to the new Diagnostics Advisory Committee.

The NICE Diagnostics Advisory Committee will consider and interpret evidence on the clinical and cost effectiveness of diagnostic technologies (does the technology work and does the benefit of the technology justify the cost), and formulate recommendations to NICE on their use in the National Health Service. Diagnostic technologies within the Committee’s remit will include pathological tests (such as blood tests), imaging (such as X-rays), endoscopy (using an endoscope to view inside the body or to take tissue samples) and physiological measurement. These technologies may be used in various ways including diagnosis of a disease or condition, clinical monitoring, screening, determining the urgency of any treatment, assessing the progression of a disease and consideration of risk.

The first topic to be considered by the Committee will be a pilot topic: Non-invasive diagnostic assessment tools to identify liver fibrosis in people with suspected alcohol related liver disease.

Committee members come from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, and include NHS professionals, academics, lay people and industry. They do not represent their organisations but are selected for their expertise, experience of working with multidisciplinary and lay colleagues, and understanding of evidence based healthcare.

NICE has two vacancies for lay members to join the Committee.

Lay members of the committee play a key role in making sure that patient, carer and public views, experiences and interests inform the development of NICE guidance.

All members need to attend regular meetings, which are held in public, and read papers including summaries of research evidence.

Skills and experience

We would welcome an application from you if you have:

• An understanding of the experiences, needs and issues important to patients, carers and/or the public with respect to diagnostic technologies.
• Demonstrable experience of articulating patient, carer or public experiences and perspectives in the discussions of a multi-disciplinary committee
• Experience of working with research evidence together with a willingness to consider effectiveness and cost effectiveness data and make decisions (sometimes difficult ones) often in the absence of conclusive evidence
• Good communication and team working skills and willingness to communicate by email.

Health professionals will be well represented on the Committee so we are looking for someone without a health professional background. Please note that an advertisement for health professional membership of the Committee can be found on the 'Join a NICE committee main page'.

Support

Lay members of the Diagnostics Advisory Committee will be offered an attendance fee of £150 per full day meeting. NICE also reimburses reasonable travel and subsistence costs. The Patient and Public Involvement Programme will provide these members with ongoing support throughout their time on the Committee.

Tax and benefits

Please note that attendance fees and reimbursable expenses are subject to the usual tax and benefit rules that apply to earned income.

How to apply

Please read the role description and person specification, information for applicants and recruitment pack using the links below. If you are interested in applying please complete a CV and supporting statement, the equalities monitoring form and declaration of interest form.

• Lay members role description and person specification
• Information for applicants
• Recruitment pack (contains all relevant forms, policies and procedures)

If you are interested in applying please send us the following documents:

• A copy of your curriculum vitae (CV)
• A short supporting statement (no more than 2 sides of A4) explaining how your experience demonstrates that you meet the criteria in the person specification
• Equalities monitoring form
• Declaration of Interests form

If you have any questions or wish to discuss the role further, please contact Laura Norburn, ppiprecruitment@nice.org.uk.

If you would like to receive hard copies of any forms, please email or write to David Bevan. You will need to return the forms (either in hard copy or in electronic format) to:

David Bevan
Patient and Public Involvement Programme,
NICE
MidCity Place
London,
WC1V 6NA.

Email:ppiprecruitment@nice.org.uk

Please return your completed forms by 5pm on Friday 15 January 2010.

Equality and Diversity

NICE is committed to the values of equality and diversity and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.