The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7431 p726
16 December 2006

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NICE guidance must not stifle innovation, says NPA

Innovation will be stifled if National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidance fails to strike the right balance between evidence-based practice and the plan, do, study, act approach adopted by front-line modernisers, according to John D'Arcy, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association. Mr D'Arcy was participating in a panel discussion entitled “Getting the professionals on board” at the NICE annual conference in Birmingham last week.

“Innovation is very important to pharmacy, it is very important to the NHS and it is very important to patients,” said Mr D’Arcy. He believes that many primary care trusts are trying to grapple with the tension that exists between evidence-based practice, which is the cornerstone of everything NICE does, and the more modern approach that is used in the NHS.

Mr D’Arcy explained to participants that the impact on pharmacy of NICE guidance to date has been limited but that as pharmacists’ roles change, particularly in the area of prescribing, that impact will increase. Referring to the smoking cessation public health intervention guidance published by NICE earlier this year (PJ, 8 April, p409), Mr D’Arcy said that there had already been some niggles.

Reference was made to pharmacy in the guidance but it was in the context of pharmacy being a referral point rather than a provider of the service, explained Mr D’Arcy.

“We looked at that and the only conclusion we could draw was that it was not in there because there was no documented evidence at that point for pharmacy’s role in smoking cessation,” he said.

“It seems to us, therefore, that if there is no evidence then it does not appear in the
guidance.”

Mr D’Arcy said that this was a shortsighted view in terms of changing roles.

“Guidance has to be pragmatic. It has to reflect day-to-day patient care,” he said.

Mr D’Arcy also said that, because pharmacists see such a large segment of the population on a daily basis, they are able to help get messages out to patients by interpreting and reinforcing NICE guidance.