The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7228 p839
14 December 2002

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National Institute for Clinical Excellence (www.nice.org.uk)

Lord Hunt announces changes to NICE

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is to set up a web-based system that will allow people to propose topics for appraisal.

The move, announced by Health Minister Lord Philip Hunt at the NICE annual conference in Birmingham last week, follows consultation with industry, professional and patient groups earlier this year. Lord Hunt said the web-based system was expected to go live, initially on a pilot basis, from the middle of this month. However, he stressed that ministers would remain accountable for the final choice of topics that NICE will appraise.

"That is because in the end we are accountable to Parliament for the National Health Service and for the performance of bodies like NICE," he told delegates. "And I believe it is our responsibility to ensure that those matters which are put to NICE do reflect Government-wide priorities in terms of the future development of the NHS."

Other changes announced include a broadening of the membership of the Technologies Advisory Group that advises ministers on topic selection. It is largely an internal committee at present, but will expand to include members from all NHS stakeholders. In addition, it is likely that there will be a shift in the future from individual technology appraisals to more, wide-ranging clinical guidelines covering disease areas.

Lord Hunt highlighted concern that the Government's direction to primary care trusts (to fund NICE guidance within three months of it being issued) was not being followed. He said: "We don't have the precise information to know at local level that every technology appraisal has been implemented. The broad-brush feeling is that, largely, the NHS has moved to [implement NICE guidance]."

The minister said that checking up on guidance implementation was part of the Commission for Health Improvement's role and added that the Government would intervene in areas where problems with implementation were identified. "For the future we are discussing with NICE ways in which we can have a much more precise idea of NHS performance," he said.

Meanwhile, CHI's chief executive Peter Homa commented: "CHI is in the process of looking at to what extent national guidance is being implemented and it is an area that will get more attention. We will not be able to coerce organisations. What we will do is expose where that is not occurring and hope that appropriate action is taken."