NICE will create standards on obesity and use of tobacco and alcohol

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is to create new quality standards for public health, the Department of Health for England has announced.

At NICE’s conference in Birmingham, the health minister Earl Howe said that the first three standards would cover tobacco, harmful alcohol use, and obesity—three topics that he admitted had not been difficult to select. He expected that the new quality standards would provide a key tool for Public Health England in tackling the three issues.

A consultation will follow on other public health issues that NICE will cover, amounting eventually to a “growing portfolio” of quality standards. Since its formation in 1999 NICE had earned a worldwide reputation as …