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(National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) a non-departmental public body that provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care. NICE was originally set up in 1999 as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, a special health authority, to reduce variation in the availability and quality of NHS treatments and care. In 2005, after merging with the Health Development Agency, it began developing public health guidance to help prevent ill health and promote healthier lifestyles and the name changed to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. In April 2013 NICE was established in primary legislation, placing it on a statutory footing as set out in the Health and Social Care Act 2012. At this time it took on responsibility for developing guidance and quality standards in social care, and the name changed once more to reflect these new responsibilities.

NICE website

Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

National Institute For Clinical Excellence (nice)

This special health authority in the National Health Service, launched in 1999, prepares formal advice for all managers and health professionals working in the service in England and Wales on the clinical- and cost-e?ectiveness of new and existing technologies. This includes diagnostic tests, medicines and surgical procedures. The institute also gives advice on best practice in the use of existing treatments.

NICE – its Scottish equivalent is the Scottish Health Technology Assessment Centre – has three main functions:

appraisal of new and existing technologies.

development of clinical guidelines.

promotion of clinical audit and con?dential inquiries. Central to its task is public concern about ‘postcode prescribing’ – that is, di?erent availability of health care according to geography.

In 2003 the World Health Organisation appraised NICE. Amongst its recomendations were that there should be greater consistency in the methods used for appraisal and the way in which results and decisions were reported. WHO was concerned about the need for transparency about the con?ict between NICE’s use of manufacturers’ commercial evidence in con?dence, and believed there should be greater de?nition of justi?cation for ‘threshold’ levels for cost-e?ectiveness in the Centre’s judgement of what represents value for money.

In all, WHO was congratulatory – but questions remain about the practical value and imlementation of NICE guidelines.... national institute for clinical excellence (nice)


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