Dr Paul Blenkiron, Consultant Psychiatrist, York and NICE Fellow

1. NICE’s name is changing – to the National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence. This reflects its extended role in producing social care guidelines.
   
2. NICE recently launched ‘NICE pathways’. These bring together all the different guidelines for each topic (eg depression) into a single flow diagram.
   
3. NICE is working on two guidelines about the patient experience – one generic and one about mental health - with help from users, carers and the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
   
4. NHS Evidence is the best free portal to access quality clinical information (NICE, the BNF, Cochrane) – yet most of us still use Google first.
   
5. NICE is creating ‘quality standards’. These summarise key recommendations for each clinical condition - using just 10 to 15 ‘aspirational but achievable’ statements. Seven are already complete, with 150 more planned within 5 years.
   
6. NICE guidelines are reader-friendly: patient-carer versions are available free online. These explain terms such as ‘cognitive behaviour therapy’, ‘delusions’ and ‘carer’s assessment’.
   
7. NICE’s first clinical guideline was Schizophrenia (2002). It has since been adopted by places as diverse as Spain, Australia and California.
   
8. NICE is the most prolific developer of clinical guidelines in the world. Its 734 publications include 122 clinical guidelines and 222 technology appraisals (of new drugs and interventions).
   
9. NICE is expanding. It now defines financial incentives for GPs - the QOF (Quality and Outcomes Framework) targets. The National Prescribing Centre is also part of NICE.
   
10. NICE states that it will never replace clinical judgement. We may have disease specific guidelines – but we do not have disease specific patients – as every clinician knows.