The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today (28 January) accredited Healthcare Improvement Scotland, NHS Direct and Plain Healthcare Limited for the quality of the processes used to produce their guidance products.

Professor David Haslam, Chair of the NICE Accreditation Advisory Committee said: "I am very pleased to see such a wide scope of guidance reach the high standards shown today.

"Through the NICE Accreditation Programme the work of these organisations has justly been recognised and they can now proudly display the Accreditation Mark - the 'seal of approval' that assures health and social care professionals that they are accessing some of the best information available online to make informed decisions about patient care."

Healthcare Improvement Scotland

Healthcare Improvement Scotland is a national body focused on helping NHS Scotland and independent healthcare providers deliver high quality, evidence-based, safe, effective and person-centred care, and to scrutinise services to provide public assurance about the quality and safety of that care. The Healthcare Environment Inspectorate, the Scottish Health Council, the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) and the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) are key components of the organisation.

Healthcare Improvement Scotland publishes a range of evidence review products on behalf of SHTG, including Evidence Notes. Evidence Notes are rapid reviews based on the best evidence that Healthcare Improvement Scotland can identify in response to a specific and focused question from NHS Scotland.

The Accreditation Advisory Committee considered that the processes used by Healthcare Improvement Scotland to produce Evidence Notes met 22 of the 25 criteria for accreditation.

Heather McIntosh, Health Services Researcher with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said: "Evidence Notes are rapid reviews of published clinical and cost-effectiveness evidence on health technologies that are under consideration by decision makers in Scotland. They are intended to provide information quickly in order to support time-sensitive decisions. Validation of our reviews through the NICE Accreditation Programme demonstrates that our rapid evaluations are of a high quality."

NHS Direct

NHS Direct provides a telephone and online services for people in England seeking health advice and information based on their symptoms. The service gives access to round-the-clock clinical information, confidential advice and reassurance and self-care advice wherever possible. Calls are handled by health advisors and nurses based on algorithms developed to determine if self-care, referral to a health provider, or referral to an NHS Direct nurse is appropriate.

The algorithms are presented through a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) comprising of the Call Streaming Prioritisation Tool (CSPT) and Teleguides.

NHS Direct is now the single largest provider of the NHS 111 service, covering a third of England's population. In the future, NHS Direct will also deliver a range of other nationally commissioned services that will complement NHS 111. This includes a complex health and medicines enquiry service, dental assessment service and digital services with click to 'speak to a nurse'.

The process used by NHS Direct to create the content of Teleguides and the Call Screening Prioritisation Tool involves a systematic search for evidence and input from a range of internal and external healthcare specialists, in addition to patient representation. This process was assessed by the NICE Accreditation Advisory Committee who considered that the processes used by NHS Direct to develop the content of CSPT and Teleguides met all 25 criteria for accreditation.

Enid Povey, Associate Director Clinical Information and Development, NHS Direct said: "We have always taken a very proactive approach to development based on clinician, patient and staff feedback to ensure we can continue to provide the very best service for our patients. This accreditation is a symbol that the work we have undertaken to achieve this is of the highest standard and gives us confidence in the processes for the future."

Plain Healthcare Limited

Plain Healthcare Limited is a research and development company in the field of software development in expert Clinical Decision Support (CDS) systems and has developed a database for use in primary care and urgent care settings. The database offers CDS from initial assessment up to the point of entry into hospital should it be required.

The CDS system caters for adults and children and is dynamic across a wide range of clinical settings and patient populations, covering the full spectrum of medical problems ranging from those of infancy to end-of-life care.

The database incorporates evidence-based guidance that supports a pre-diagnostic approach to patient assessment and management and guides history-taking, interprets the significance of findings, recommends triage outcomes and provides management advice, self care and health promotion. Professor Jeremy Dale, Clinical Director, said: "We are delighted that Plain Healthcare has achieved NICE accreditation. This is testament to the safety and effectiveness of Odyssey clinical content, and the hard work and commitment of our clinical team. We are committed to continuously reviewing and improving our processes to ensure the highest of standards. NICE accreditation provides validation that will be welcomed by patients, clinicians and managers of services that use Odyssey decision support."

The NICE Accreditation Advisory Committee considered that the processes used by Plain Healthcare Limited met all 25 criteria for accreditation.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The final accreditation reports are available at www.nice.org.uk/accreditation

2. NICE's Accreditation Programme verifies the most robustly-produced guidance available to health and social care professionals, enabling them to drive quality outcomes that are among the best in the world. It uses rigorous assessment processes based on international standards for guideline development produced by the Appraisal of Guidelines Research & Evaluation collaboration (AGREE).

3. The Accreditation Mark is a registered trademark of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. It appears next to titles within search results on the NHS Evidence portal to denote those information sources that have passed the criteria for producing high-quality information.

4. Provided it is relevant to a search, information from accredited sources features on NHS Evidence in the top results, with the Accreditation Mark clearly displayed.

5. An accredited organisation can display the Accreditation Mark publicly as a sign of its high standard achieved in developing information.

6. Accreditation lasts for five years.

About NICE

1. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance and standards on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill health.

2. NICE produces guidance in three areas of health:

• public health - guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention of ill health for those working in the NHS, local authorities and the wider public and voluntary sector
• health technologies - guidance on the use of new and existing medicines, treatments, medical technologies (including devices and diagnostics) and procedures within the NHS
• clinical practice - guidance on the appropriate treatment and care of people with specific diseases and conditions within the NHS
• social care - the Health and Social Care Act (2012) sets out a new responsibility for NICE to develop guidance and quality standards for social care. To reflect this new role, from 1 April 2013 NICE will be called the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and it will become a Non-Departmental Public Body.

3. NICE produces standards for patient care:

• quality standards - these describe high-priority areas for quality improvement in a defined care or service area
• Quality and Outcomes Framework - NICE develops the clinical and health improvement indicators in the QOF, the Department of Health scheme which rewards GPs for how well they care for patients
• CCG Outcomes Indicator Set (formerly known as COF) - NICE develops the potential clinical health improvement indicators to ensure quality of care for patients and communities served by the clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)

4. NICE provides advice and support on putting NICE guidance and standards into practice through its implementation programme, and it collates and accredits high quality health guidance, research and information to help health professionals deliver the best patient care through NHS Evidence.