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 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 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 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 preventing infection within 72 hours of birth in healthy babies, treating pregnant women whose baby is at risk, and caring for babies who have a suspected or confirmed infection. It aims to reduce delays in recognising and treating sick babies and prevent unnecessary use of antibiotics.
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 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 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 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 care before, during and after a planned knee, hip or shoulder replacement. It includes recommendations to ensure that people are given full information about their options for surgery, including anaesthesia. It offers advice for healthcare professionals on surgical procedures and ensuring safety during operations. It also offers guidance on providing support and rehabilitation before and after surgery.
This guideline covers care and treatment for adults (aged 18 and over) with type 1 diabetes.
This guideline covers the diagnosis and management of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and young people aged under 18. The guideline recommends how to support children and young people and their families and carers to maintain tight control of blood glucose to reduce the long-term risks associated with diabetes.
This guideline covers managing diabetes and its complications in women who are planning pregnancy or are already pregnant. It aims to improve the diagnosis of gestational diabetes and help women with diabetes to self-manage their blood glucose levels before and during pregnancy.
This guideline covers assessment and referral for anaphylaxis. It aims to improve the quality of care for people with suspected anaphylaxis by detailing the assessments that are needed and recommending referral to specialist allergy services.
This guideline covers recognising and managing psychosis and schizophrenia in adults. It aims to improve care through early recognition and treatment, and by focusing on long-term recovery. It also recommends checking for coexisting health problems and providing support for family members and carers.
This guideline covers the recognition, assessment and management of coeliac disease in children, young people and adults.
This guideline covers the assessment, investigation and management of tinnitus in primary, community and secondary care. It offers advice to healthcare professionals on supporting people presenting with tinnitus and on when to refer for specialist assessment and management.
This guideline covers diagnosing, managing and referring infants and young children younger than 5 years who present with acute diarrhoea (lasting up to 14 days) with or without vomiting. It aims to improve the diagnosis and management of infective gastroenteritis and appropriate escalation of care.
This guideline covers the signs of possible child maltreatment in children and young people aged under 18 years. It aims to raise awareness and help health professionals who are not child protection specialists to identify the features of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect and fabricated or induced illness.
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 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.
This guideline covers the diagnosing and managing of myeloma (including smouldering myeloma and primary plasma cell leukaemia) in people aged 16 and over. It aims to improve care for people with myeloma by promoting the most effective tests and treatments for myeloma and its complications.
This guideline covers assessing and managing pelvic fractures, open fractures and severe ankle fractures (known as pilon fractures and intra-articular distal tibia fractures) in pre-hospital settings (including ambulance services), emergency departments and major trauma centres. It aims to reduce deaths and long-term health problems by improving the quality of emergency and urgent care.
This guideline covers recognising and diagnosing autism spectrum disorder in children and young people from birth up to 19 years. It also covers referral. It aims to improve the experience of children, young people and those who care for them.
This guideline covers using colonoscopy to check for signs of bowel cancer in people aged 18 and over with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease (types of inflammatory bowel disease) or adenomas (also known as polyps). It aims to prevent cancer and prolong life by offering advice on identifying early bowel cancer in adults most at risk.
This guideline covers assessing and managing people aged 14 years and over with coexisting severe mental illness (psychosis) and substance misuse. It aims to help healthcare professionals guide people with psychosis with coexisting substance misuse to stabilise, reduce or stop their substance misuse, to improve treatment adherence and outcomes, and to enhance their lives.
This guideline covers assessing and treating bedwetting in people aged under 19. It aims to reduce bedwetting and the distress this causes by explaining what to ask in an assessment, what advice to provide, and which treatments are effective.