The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care.

NICE does this in a number of ways:

  • Through clinical guidance and quality standards, which set out recommendations for good care and how good treatment and care might be ‘measured’. You can search their guidance here.
  • Setting out indicators to measure outcomes that reflect the quality of care, or processes linked by evidence to improved outcomes. Search indicators here.
  • Conducting ‘technology appraisals’ for new and existing medicines and treatments within the NHS. These can be: medicines; medical devices; diagnostic techniques; surgical procedures; and health promotion activities. If recommended for use by NICE, NHS England should make these medicines available on the NHS as they have been deemed cost-effective. Find out more here.

Not all neurological conditions have NICE clinical guidance and quality standards Where they do exist, NICE guidelines and standards can be helpful in holding local services to account. NICE does not have responsibility to implement the standards it sets out.

Getting in touch with NICE

You may get in touch with NICE if:

  • You would like them to develop guidance or quality standards for a specific neurological condition
  • You would like to be involved in the development of guidance
  • You would like to challenge their guidance or appraisal of a specific medicine or treatment

You can find more information about how NICE work with people and patient groups including how to get in touch here.

Learn more

Find out more about key organisations and teams within the NHS: