NICE implementation support programme

The NICE implementation support programme is now four years old! It set out with the basic aim to make it easier to put NICE guidance recommendations into practice, and thus improve patient care. The approach to supporting implementation was informed by the evidence and by the views of healthcare professionals, and is based around four key principles:

1. Disseminate the information - making sure the guidance is easy to find, when it's needed

2. Encourage and motivate people to change - inspiring people to want to use NICE recommendations to provide the best care for patients. Examples include making links with education bodies and with financial and regulatory mechanisms

3. Provide practical support - making change easier by providing practical help such as a forward planner highlighting future estimated guidance costs

4. Evaluate uptake and impact - helping NICE to understand the impact recommendations have had in practice, and where there might be particular barriers to the use of the recommendations that we can address in future.

Successful change in practice can only happen at a local level, and therefore change needs to be led and managed locally. NICE's role is to facilitate that by providing up-to-date information and practical support. Specific examples of that support include costing tools to facilitate local financial planning, audit tools, commissioning guides and information on how to overcome the barriers to change. We are also working closely with IT providers to ensure that, in future, recommendations from NICE guidance are readily accessible from other systems used by clinicians in their day-to-day practice.

We want to ensure all of the implementation support provided by NICE is as helpful and informative as possible, and we are always open to suggestions for change and new ideas.