This guideline covers preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections in children, young people and adults in primary and community care settings. It provides a blueprint for the infection prevention and control precautions that should be applied by everyone involved in delivering NHS care and treatment.
This guideline covers interventions and support for children, young people and adults with a learning disability and behaviour that challenges. It highlights the importance of understanding the cause of behaviour that challenges, and performing thorough assessments so that steps can be taken to help people change their behaviour and improve their quality of life. The guideline also covers support and intervention for family members or carers.
This guideline covers children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (across the full range of intellectual ability) from birth until their 19th birthday. It covers the different ways that health and social care professionals can provide support, treatment and help for children and young people with autism, and their families and carers, from the early years through to their transition into young adult life.
This guideline covers assigning recall intervals between oral health reviews that are appropriate to the needs of individual patients. The guideline takes account of the effect of dental checks on: people’s wellbeing, general health and preventive habits; caries incidence and avoiding restorations; periodontal health and avoiding tooth loss; and avoiding pain and anxiety. It aims to improve or maintain patients’ quality of life and reduce morbidity associated with oral and dental disease.
This guideline covers identifying and caring for adults who are malnourished or at risk of malnutrition in hospital or in their own home or a care home. It offers advice on how oral, enteral tube feeding and parenteral nutrition support should be started, administered and stopped. It aims to support healthcare professionals identify malnourished people and help them to choose the most appropriate form of support.
This guideline covers detecting, diagnosing and treating women (18 years and older) who have, or are suspected of having, epithelial ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, primary peritoneal cancer or borderline ovarian cancer. It aims to enable earlier detection of ovarian cancer and improve initial treatment.
This guideline covers managing hip fracture in adults. It aims to improve care from the time people aged 18 and over are admitted to hospital through to when they return to the community. Recommendations emphasise the importance of early surgery and coordinating care through a multidisciplinary hip fracture programme to help people recover faster and regain their mobility.
This guideline covers managing spasticity and co-existing motor disorders and their early musculoskeletal complications in children and young people (from birth up to their 19th birthday) with non-progressive brain disorders. It aims to reduce variation in practice and help healthcare professionals to select and use appropriate treatments.
This guideline covers assessing the risk of fragility fracture in people aged 18 and over with osteoporosis. It aims to provide guidance on the selection and use of risk assessment tools in the care of adults at risk of fragility fractures in all NHS settings.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing bronchiolitis in children. It aims to help healthcare professionals diagnose bronchiolitis and identify if children should be cared for at home or in hospital. It describes treatments and interventions that can be used to help with the symptoms of bronchiolitis.
This guideline covers risk assessment, prevention and treatment in children, young people and adults at risk of, or who have, a pressure ulcer (also known as a bedsore or pressure sore). It aims to reduce the number of pressure ulcers in people admitted to secondary or tertiary care or receiving NHS care in other settings, such as primary and community care and emergency departments.
This guideline covers the care and treatment of people aged 18 and over with generalised anxiety disorder (chronic anxiety) or panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia or panic attacks). It aims to help people achieve complete relief of symptoms (remission), which is associated with better functioning and a lower likelihood of relapse.
This guideline covers identifying and managing familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), a specific type of high cholesterol that runs in the family, in children, young people and adults. It aims to help identify people at increased risk of coronary heart disease as a result of having FH.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing suspected or confirmed autism spectrum disorder (autism, Asperger’s syndrome and atypical autism) in people aged 18 and over. It aims to improve access and engagement with interventions and services, and the experience of care, for people with autism.
This guideline covers the early and longer-term (rehabilitation) management of acute coronary syndromes. These include ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and unstable angina. The guideline aims to improve survival and quality of life for people who have a heart attack or unstable angina.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage in women with complications, such as pain and bleeding, in early pregnancy (that is, up to 13 completed weeks of pregnancy). It aims to improve how early pregnancy loss is diagnosed, and the support women are given, to limit the psychological impact of their loss.
This guideline covers diagnosing and treating jaundice, which is caused by increased levels of bilirubin in the blood, in newborn babies (neonates). It aims to help detect or prevent very high levels of bilirubin, which can be harmful if not treated.
This guideline covers helping adults and young people over 16 who are dependent on opioids to stop using drugs. It aims to reduce illicit drug use and improve people’s physical and mental health, relationships and employment.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) (or encephalopathy). It aims to improve the quality of life for people with CFS/ME by setting out the care and treatment options that should be available for them.
This guideline covers identifying, assessing and managing alcohol-use disorders (harmful drinking and alcohol dependence) in adults and young people aged 10–17 years. It aims to reduce harms (such as liver disease, heart problems, depression and anxiety) from alcohol by improving assessment and setting goals for reducing alcohol consumption.
This guideline covers assessing and managing food allergy in children and young people under 19. It aims to improve symptoms such as faltering growth and eczema by offering advice on how to identify food allergy and when to refer to secondary or specialist care.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing secondary cancers in people aged 18 and over when the site of the primary cancer is unknown. This includes people who have had treatment for cancer before. It aims to improve quality of life by offering advice on tests for identifying the site of the primary cancer and options for managing the person’s condition when this cannot be found.
This guideline covers antenatal care for all pregnant women with complex social factors (particularly alcohol or drug misuse, recent migrant or asylum seeker status, difficulty reading or speaking English, aged under 20, domestic abuse). It offers advice on improving access to care, maintaining contact with antenatal carers, and additional information and support for these women.
This guideline covers assessment, diagnosis and referral for people over 16 who have had a transient loss of consciousness (TLoC; also called a blackout). It aims to improve care for people with TLoC by specifying the most effective assessments and recommending when to refer to a specialist.
This guideline covers the short-term management and prevention of self-harm in people aged 8 and over, regardless of whether accompanied by mental illness. It covers the first 48 hours following an act of self-harm, but does not address the longer-term psychiatric care of people who self-harm.
This guideline covers assessment of fall risk and interventions to prevent falls in people aged 65 and over. It aims to reduce the risk and incidence of falls and the associated distress, pain, injury, loss of confidence, loss of independence and mortality.
This guideline covers assessing and managing chronic hepatitis B in children, young people and adults. It aims to improve care for people with hepatitis B by specifying which tests and treatments to use for people of different ages and with different disease severities.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing varicose veins in people aged 18 and over. It aims to ensure that people understand the options for treating varicose veins and that healthcare professionals know when to refer people for specialist assessment and treatment.
This guideline covers detecting and managing metastatic spinal cord compression in adults with cancer that has spread to the spine. It aims to improve quality of life by promoting early detection and management, and reducing spinal cord damage and disability.
This guideline covers the assessment for and management of blood transfusions in adults, young people and children over 1 year old. It covers the general principles of blood transfusion, but does not make recommendations relating to specific conditions.
This guideline covers assessing and managing faecal incontinence (any involuntary loss of faeces that is a social or hygienic problem) in people aged 18 and over. It aims to ensure that staff are aware that faecal incontinence is a sign or a symptom, not a diagnosis.
This guideline covers medicines adherence in people aged 18 and over. It recommends how to encourage adherence to medicines by supporting and involving people in decisions about their prescribed medicines. It aims to ensure that a person’s decision to use a medicine is an informed choice.
This guideline covers principles for working with people with antisocial personality disorder, including dealing with crises (crisis resolution). It aims to help people with antisocial personality disorder manage feelings of anger, distress, anxiety and depression, and to reduce offending and antisocial behaviour.
This guideline covers surgical treatment of children younger than 12 years who have fluid buildup behind their eardrum (otitis media, also known as ‘glue ear’). It aims to improve hearing and quality of life in children with otitis media.
This guideline covers how patients in hospital should be monitored to identify those whose health may become worse suddenly and the care they should receive. It aims to reduce the risk of patients needing to stay longer in hospital, not recovering fully or dying. It doesn’t specifically cover the care of children, patients in critical care areas or those in the final stages of a terminal illness.
This guideline covers recognising and managing borderline personality disorder. It aims to help people with borderline personality disorder to manage feelings of distress, anxiety, worthlessness and anger, and to maintain stable and close relationships with others.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in people aged 18 and over. It details how to accurately diagnose IBS, and aims to improve the quality of life for adults with IBS by promoting effective management using dietary and lifestyle advice, pharmacological therapy and referral for psychological interventions.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing acute heart failure or possible acute heart failure in people aged 18 and over. It aims to improve the immediate care of someone who is acutely unwell as a result of heart failure.
This guideline covers the components of a good patient experience. It aims to make sure that all adults using NHS services have the best possible experience of care.
This guideline covers assessing and managing urinary incontinence in children, young people and adults with neurological disease. It aims to improve care by recommending specific treatments based on what symptoms and neurological conditions people have.
This guideline covers preventing, identifying and managing neutropenic sepsis in children, young people and adults receiving treatment for cancer in the community and in secondary and tertiary care. It aims to reduce the risk of infection in people with neutropenia (low number of white blood cells) who are receiving anticancer treatment and improve management of neutropenic sepsis.
This guideline covers safe and effective prescribing of strong opioids for pain relief in adults with advanced and progressive disease. It aims to clarify the clinical pathway for prescribing and help to improve pain management and patient safety. Care during the last 2 to 3 days of life is covered by care of dying adults in the last days of life .
This guideline covers how upper gastrointestinal bleeding can be effectively managed in adults and young people aged 16 years and older. It aims to identify which diagnostic and therapeutic steps are useful so hospitals can develop a structure in which clinical teams can deliver an optimum service for people who develop this condition.
This guideline covers identifying people who wish to donate their organs after their death. It offers advice on how to approach families and carers of people who are nearing the end of life and how to seek consent for organ donation. It aims to promote discussion of organ donation as part of end-of-life care and to increase the number of organs available for people waiting for a transplant.
This guideline covers managing stable angina in people aged 18 and over. It outlines the importance of addressing the person’s concerns about stable angina and the roles of medical therapy and revascularisation.
This guideline covers using psychosocial interventions to treat adults and young people over 16 who have a problem with or are dependent on opioids, stimulants or cannabis. It aims to reduce illicit drug use and improve people’s physical and mental health, relationships and employment.
This guideline covers the care of healthy women and their babies, during labour and immediately after the birth. It focuses on women who give birth between 37 and 42 weeks of pregnancy (‘term’). The guideline helps women to make an informed choice about where to have their baby. It also aims to reduce variation in areas of care such as fetal monitoring during labour and management of the third stage of labour.
This guideline covers diagnosing and managing abdominal aortic aneurysms. It aims to improve care by helping people who are at risk to get tested, specifying how often to monitor asymptomatic aneurysms, and identifying when aneurysm repair is needed and which procedure will work best.
This guideline covers the clinical care of adults (18 years and over) who are dying during the last 2 to 3 days of life. It aims to improve end of life care for people in their last days of life by communicating respectfully and involving them, and the people important to them, in decisions and by maintaining their comfort and dignity. The guideline covers how to manage common symptoms without causing unacceptable side effects and maintain hydration in the last days of life.
This guideline covers assessing and managing non-complex fractures that can be treated in the emergency department or orthopaedic clinic. It aims to improve practice so that people with fractures receive the care that they need without unnecessary tests and treatments.