The failings of NICE

doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7273.1363

BMJ 2000;321:1363-1364 ( 2 December )

Editorials

The failings of NICE

Time to start work on version 2

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Despite the protestations of its boss, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is an instrument for rationinghealth care. ¹ ² Unfortunately, it's not a very good one.A government with spine would learn from the failings of NICEand move on to version 2. Perhaps this is a job for after thenext election, whoeverwins.

NICE, which covers only England and Wales, began in 1999 with three main functions. ¹ ^3-5 Firstly, it appraises new technologies,including drugs, and decides which should be encouraged in theNHS and which should be held back. Its other functions are toproduce or approve guidelines and to encourage quality improvement.The biggest push for NICE came from political disapproval of "postcodeprescribing:" patients on opposite sides of the same street mayreceive or be denied treatment because they fall under differenthealth authorities, each with different policies on which treatmentsthey willfund.

NICE began with . . . [Full text of this article]

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