NICE estimates that its recommendations have cost the NHS £575m

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)—the organisation set up to give guidance on the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of drugs and other interventions—is providing a good model for open consultation on matters of public interest, its chief executive claimed last week.

In the two and a half years it has been operating, NICE has published appraisals on a wide range of interventions'starting in March 2000 with an appraisal of the removal of wisdom teeth and including artificial joints in hip surgery and drugs and surgery for obesity. Last week it published its 50th technology appraisal.

Andrew Dillon, the institute's chief executive, said its consultation process had evolved over time, with full publication of all consultation documents on …