Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the extent to which NHS organisations comply with NICE guidance.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body that provides guidance on the prevention and treatment of ill health and the promotion of good health and social care. It produces a range of guidance products, including technology appraisals, guidelines and quality standards.

National Health Service commissioners are legally required to fund treatments recommended by NICE in its technology appraisal and highly specialised technology evaluation guidance. This is reflected in the NHS Constitution as a right to NICE approved drugs and treatments. The Innovation Scorecard published by NHS Digital on a quarterly basis reports on the use of medicines and medical technologies recommended by NICE. The latest report is available at:

https://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB30185

All NICE’s other guidance is not mandatory, although as authoritative best practice, the Government expects healthcare professionals to take it fully into account in the care and treatment of individual patients. NICE published an uptake and impact report relating to its guidance in March 2017, which is available at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/Into-practice/measuring-uptake/nice-uptake-and-impact-report-mar-17.pdf