§ Mrs. Iris RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what criteria are used to determine which conditions and treatments are assessed for the introduction of(a) national service frameworks, (b) policy frameworks and (c) National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidelines. [176881]
§ Ms Rosie WintertonIn selecting a topic for and developing and implementing a national service framework, account is taken of the importance of a health issue in terms of morbidity and mortality, the scope for service improvement and the capacity of the national health service and its partner agencies to implement the framework. Similar criteria determine the areas in which the Government choose to introduce major initiatives in other parts of health and social care policy.
The work programme for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is set by the Department, via the advisory committee for topic selection (ACTS). The ACTS consists of departmental policy officials, NICE, patient and professional groups and the pharmaceutical industry. Its role is to advise whether a topic is suitable 1003W for an appraisal by NICE. The ACTS applies selection criteria agreed by Ministers and prioritises those proposals which meet the criteria, The key criteria are whether guidance would promote the best possible improvement in patient care given available resources, and whether NICE would be able to add value by issuing guidance.