The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7342 p353
26 March 2005

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Consultation on public health guidance launched

How public health guidance will be produced is the subject of a consultation launched by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence this week.

From April 2005, the functions of the Health Development Agency (to improve public health and tackle health inequalities) will transfer to NICE (PJ, 31 July 2004, p141), and a single body responsible for providing national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill health will be created. The new organisation will be called the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, retaining the acronym NICE, and will comprise three centres, namely the Centre for Public Health Excellence, the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation and the Centre for Clinical Practice.

Topics covered · Smoking and tobacco control · Obesity, diet and nutrition · Exercise and physical activity · Alcohol · Sexual health · Mental health · Drug misuse · Promotion of young people’s health n Accidental injury prevention

The public health role will be carried out by the Centre for Public Health Excellence, which will develop guidance in nine key areas of public health for those working in the NHS, local authorities and the wider public and voluntary sector (see Panel). It will produce two types of guidance: public health intervention guidance and public health programme guidance.

NICE is seeking views from practitioners and the public on the proposed aims and operating model for the public health centre.

The consultation ends on 10 June and the document is available here

NICE is also consulting on how a regional team structure might best support the new organisation.