§ Andy KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the effectiveness and purpose of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence's Interventional Procedure Advisory Committee and the guidance it produces. [174966]
§ Dr. LadymanThe purpose of the interventional procedures programme is to determine whether procedures are safe enough and work well enough for use in the National Health Service. The guidance aims to protect the safety of patients and support clinicians, healthcare organisations and the NHS as a whole in the process of introducing new procedures.
The interventional procedures programme has been producing guidance for only the past 11 months. No formal assessment of the programme has yet been made.