Selecting and prioritising quality standard topics

How we select topics

We use the quality standards topic library to choose the topics for development.

We produce a shortlist each September, then finalise it with the relevant commissioning bodies:

• healthcare topics - NHS England
• public health topics - Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England
• social care topics - Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education.

They also refer a small number of new topics to us.

How we prioritise topics

We prepare a longlist of topics each year, in August.  This includes:

• topics from the library where:
  • there is a current NICE guideline
  • a new guideline will publish with time to also develop a quality standard that year
  • there are relevant accredited guidelines from external organisations
• existing standards that need updating.

Besides the longlist, we also:

• identify standards already in development which are scheduled to publish in the next year
• determine the capacity for development.

We then create the shortlist. Topics are shortlisted if they:

• were previously identified as high priority 
• align with national priorities
• could impact on the outcomes frameworks in healthcare, public health and social care
• relate to:
  • a significant burden of care and/or illness
  • premature mortality
  • reduced quality of life.

We discuss both lists with:

• NHS England domain directors (plus National Clinical Directors where available) - healthcare topics
• Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England public health policy leads - public health topics
• Department of Health and Social Care and Department for Education policy leads - social care topics

We consider the balance between clinical, social care and public health topics, review amendments and agree final proposals.  These are then agreed at a further joint meeting. 

Reviewing published quality standards

We review all published quality standards annually.

There are 3 possible decisions:

• Alignment of the quality standard to updated source guidance.
• Full update to reflect:
  • changes in the areas for quality improvement
  • new NICE or NICE accredited guidance
  • new national priorities.
• Make no changes.

We make an initial review decision for each published quality standard. During the annual prioritisation process, commissioners make a final decision on updating a quality standard.

E-mail us with evidence of achievement if you think a standard needs updating: qualitystandards@nice.org.uk.

We consider all comments as part of the annual review process.

Contact us

Email qualitystandards@nice.org.uk if you think a quality standard needs updating.