Tools and resources

How NICE clinical guidelines are developed: an overview for stakeholders, the public and the NHS

How to register as a stakeholder for a clinical guideline

How to register as a stakeholder for a clinical guideline

Stakeholders play a vital role in developing NICE clinical guidelines. Professional and government organisations, patient and carer groups and companies can all register as stakeholders for a clinical guideline.

Key point

We encourage stakeholder organisations to register their interest in a particular clinical guideline as soon as possible after the topic is announced. This will enable you to participate in the early stages of the guideline's development (including commenting on the scope). However, you may register your organisation as a stakeholder at any time during the development process. You can then be involved in the remaining stages of the guideline's development.

How NICE alerts potential stakeholders

We announce several new topics for clinical guidelines at the same time, after they are referred by the Department of Health or the NHS Commissioning Board. This usually happens 3 times a year. We publicise these new topics by:

  • issuing a press release

  • listing the topics on our website, with details of how to register as a stakeholder

  • contacting organisations that registered as stakeholders for previous clinical guidelines to alert them to the new topics

  • writing to other patient and carer and professional organisations that may have an interest in a new guideline topic

  • writing to relevant consultees for a technology appraisal if the clinical guideline may update the appraisal (for further details, see section 8.1 of The guidelines manual).

Organisations that can register as stakeholders

The following can register as stakeholders for NICE clinical guidelines:

  • national patient and carer organisations that represent the interests of people whose care will be covered by the guideline ('patient and carer stakeholders')

  • local patient and carer organisations, but only if there is no relevant national organisation (see below)

  • national organisations that represent the healthcare professionals who provide the services described in the guideline ('professional stakeholders')

  • companies that manufacture drugs or devices used in treating the condition covered by the guideline and whose interests may be significantly affected by the guideline ('commercial stakeholders')

  • providers and commissioners of health services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

  • research organisations that have carried out nationally recognised research in the area.

There are also standing stakeholder organisations for all guidelines. These include the Department of Health, the NHS Commissioning Board, the Welsh Government, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Quality Commission.

NICE clinical guidelines are produced for the NHS in England and Wales, so a 'national' organisation is defined as one that represents England and/or Wales, or has a commercial interest in England and/or Wales.

Organisations that cannot register as stakeholders

For reasons of capacity, local patient and carer and professional groups cannot register as stakeholders unless there is no national organisation that represents the group's specific interests.

Individuals cannot register as stakeholders. However, we encourage anyone with an interest in the topic to participate by contacting a registered stakeholder and expressing their views to them. The registered stakeholders for each guideline are listed on our website.

How to register

To register an interest in a particular clinical guideline, you should complete the stakeholder registration form. This can be done via the stakeholder registration page of our website, or you can ask us for a printed copy of the form.

The form asks potential stakeholders to:

  • provide a brief description of their organisation

  • indicate who the organisation represents

  • describe the contribution that the organisation can make to the guideline

  • provide contact details of the person who will be the stakeholder contact for the organisation.

If an organisation fits the definition of a stakeholder, we will confirm the registration. If you have not received a confirmation within 28 days of submitting the form, contact the NICE guidelines team (guidelines@nice.org.uk).

We cannot guarantee that all organisations that may have an interest in a particular clinical guideline topic will be notified about new topics. We strongly encourage potential stakeholders to visit our website regularly to check the list of clinical guidelines in development and register for appropriate guidelines.

Once you have registered as a stakeholder

We encourage registered stakeholder organisations to check the summary pages about the guideline on our website regularly. You can also subscribe free of charge to our monthly e-newsletter 'NICE news', which lists forthcoming guidance, consultations on guidance that are in progress, and future events. The e-newsletter is also available on our website.


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