Efficiency, equity, and NICE clinical guidelines

Wailoo, A., Roberts, J., Brazier, J. and McCabe, C. (2004) Efficiency, equity, and NICE clinical guidelines. BMJ, 328 (7439). pp. 536-537. ISSN 0959-8138

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Abstract

The stated purpose of clinical guidelines from the United Kingdom's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is to "help healthcare professionals and patients make the right decisions about healthcare in specific clinical circumstances." However, what constitutes "the right decisions" depends on your point of view. For individual patients the right decision is that which maximises their wellbeing, and this is properly the concern of the clinician. Yet in resource constrained healthcare systems this will not always coincide with the right decisions for patients in general or society as a whole, thereby leading to some understandable tensions. NICE is a national policy making body whose responsibility is clearly broader than the individual patient. This wider viewpoint is reflected in NICE's technology appraisals by the central role afforded to cost effectiveness. We argue that the methods currently used by the NICE clinical guideline programme confuse these two viewpoints.

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
Academic Units:	The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > Institute of Health Sciences (Leeds) > Academic Unit of Health Economics (Leeds) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield)
Depositing User:	Repository Officer
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2005
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2013 17:01
Published Version:	http://www.bmj.com/
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1136/bmj.328.7439.536
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/268

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