2002/067 NICE asks public, health professionals and NHS: what conditions and treatments would you like NICE to develop guidance on?
NICE 2000/ 067
Issued: 18 December 2002
PRESS RELEASE
The Department of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government are responsible for selecting the topics for the NICE work programme. Following an announcement about changes to the way in which these topics will be selected, the health departments are keen to involve NICE and the NHS more in this process.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is piloting a topic suggestion process on its web site that aims to support members of the public, health care professionals, NHS managers and other interested stakeholders in suggesting clinical conditions and treatments that they feel it would be helpful for NICE to develop guidance on.
The Department of Health and Welsh Assembly Government will assess all the proposals received during the pilot period, and decide whether to refer the topics that have been suggested to NICE for guidance development.
Andrew Dillon, Chief Executive of NICE said:"We welcome the opportunity to support topic selection through our web site. We have lobbied hard for our work programme to be constructed in a more open and inclusive manner, and are pleased that this pilot will allow members of the public, health care professionals, NHS managers and other stakeholders - who may well be the best judges of where NICE guidance can support health care professionals and improve patient care - to put topics forward."
The pilot will run until January 31 2003. At the end of the pilot period, NICE will withdraw its electronic proposal form to assess the results of the pilot. NICE will make any necessary improvements to the topic suggestion process and assess the resources needed to support a permanent system. The response to the pilot will be published on the NICE web site and the system will be re-opened as soon as practicable after that date.
Following withdrawal of the NICE pilot site, the Department of Health will continue to accept suggestions in writing or via the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Appraisal (NCCHTA) web site. Full details of the new process can be found on the Department of Health's website at: http://www.doh.gov.uk/nice/consultation2002.
Ends
Notes to Editors
About NICE
| 1. | NICE is part of the NHS. It is the independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on treatments and care for those using the NHS in England and Wales. Its guidance is for healthcare professionals and patients and their carers to help them make decisions about treatment and healthcare. For further information about NICE you can visit www.nice.org.uk. |
| 2. |
NICE produces guidance in three areas of health:
NICE also funds four enquiries that undertake research into the way patients are treated to identify ways of improving the quality of care (the investigations are known as confidential enquiries). |
| 3. | NICE guidance and recommendations are prepared by independent groups that include professionals working in the NHS and people who are familiar with the issues affecting patients and carers. |
| About the topic suggestion process and pilot | |
| 4. | Topics are referred to NICE by the Secretary of State for Health and the Welsh Assembly Government, in line with the national priorities they have established for the NHS. Once a topic has been referred, the development of the subsequent advice is entirely the responsibility of NICE. |
| 5. | Further information about the NICE pilot topic suggestion process |
| 6. | At present the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA) manages a web site (http://www.ncchta.org/) that provides the opportunity to make the NHS Research and Development Programme aware of areas that could be considered for new Health Technology Appraisal research. Every year this web site feeds suggestions into the NHS Research programme and the NICE work programme. In addition, people write to the Welsh and English health departments with their suggestions for topics that NICE could consider. NICE have based their pilot topic suggestion form on the form that the NCCHTA use, and are keen for feedback on how easy the form is to use and whether it helps individuals make suggestions. |
| 7. |
NICE will review all suggestions and take one of the following actions:
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| 8. | NICE will not decide whether individual suggestions are added to their work programme. The Department of Health and Welsh Assembly Government will assess all proposals received during the pilot. |
| 9. | Full details of the new process that will be followed by the Department of Health and Welsh Assembly Government when selecting topics for NICE to consider can be found on the Department of Health's website at: www.doh.gov.uk/nice/consultation2002. |
This page was last updated: 01 July 2009
