Manchester, United Kingdom
NICE’s role is to improve outcomes for people using the NHS and other public health and social care services. We do this by:
- Producing evidence-based guidance and advice for health, public health and social care practitioners.
- Developing quality standards and performance metrics for those providing and commissioning health, public health and social care services.
- Providing a range of information services for commissioners, practitioners and managers across the spectrum of health and social care.
History & structure
NICE was set up in 1999 as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to reduce variation in the availability and quality of NHS treatments and care. In 2005 we merged with the Health Development Agency, and began developing public health guidance, also changing our name (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence).
The Health and Social Care Act 2012 established us in primary legislation and from April 2013 we became a Non-Departmental Public Body responsible for developing guidance and quality standards in social care. Our name changed once more to reflect these new responsibilities.
On 1 April 2019, we marked 20 years of improving health and social care through evidence-based guidance.
Mission
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care.
How the agency works
NICE is led by a Board comprised of a non-executive chair and non-executive directors who in turn appoint executive members of the board. The NICE Board sets our strategic priorities and policies, with operational decision-making by our Executive Team.
Dissemination activities
All NICE guidance and other outputs, including the evidence or HTA reports on which they are based, are available on our website. Reuse of NICE guidance and corporate documents is covered by a licensing framework dependent on where our content is to be used. In the UK it may be used free of charge, under the NICE UK Open Content Licence. Outside the UK it may be used for personal education purposes, or else is subject to a licensing agreement.
A list of recently completed or milestone HTA reports
Details of published HTA topics are available on the NICE website.
A list of (selected) current projects
At any one time, NICE has approximately 500 guidance topics in development or at public consultation. Details, including expected publication dates, are available on NICE the website.
Future plans
The future plan can be found in the corporate publications. This business plan sets out our business objectives and performance measures and explains our vision and priorities for the business year. Our new 2021-2026 strategy sets out an ambitious vision for our future, and a route map to its achievement, building on the solid foundations of the last 22 years.
Agency Information
Country: NICE guidance covers:
- NICE guidelines
- Technology appraisal guidance (TAGs)
- Diagnostics guidance
- Medical technologies guidance
- Interventional procedures guidance
- Highly specialised technologies guidance
The way NICE was established in legislation means our guidance applies in England.
An agreement is place with the Welsh government meaning all NICE guidelines and quality standards are available for use in Wales; except for TAGS, their use is not mandatory. We also have agreements to provide certain NICE products and services to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Decisions on how our guidance applies in these countries are made by the devolved administrations, who are involved in the development of NICE guidance.
Description of population served (national, regional, etc.): National
Size of population served (mil): England – 55 million. Wales – 3 million. Total UK population: 67 million.
Current HTA budget (mil USD): NICE’s total revenue funding for 2020/21 was £73 million (approximately USD 96m).
Permanent staff: NICE has 680 employees across 7 directorates, many qualified to fulfil analytical and advice roles across a spectrum of clinical, public health and social care settings, along with operational support to manage the organisation and advisory committees who help us produce evidence-based guidance and appraisals.
Consultants: Main bodies providing HTA services to NICE: Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust external assessment centre; BMJ Technology Assessment Group (BMJ-TAG); Kleijnen Reviews Ltd (KSR); Centre for Reviews and Dissemination and Centre for Health Economics – York; Peninsula Technology Assessment Group (PenTAG); Southampton Health Technology Assessment Centre (SHTAC); Warwick Evidence; Liverpool Reviews and Implementation Group (LRiG); Aberdeen HTA Group; School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR); Decision Support Unit (DSU); CEDAR external assessment centre; KiTEC external assessment centre; York Health Economics Consortium external centre.
Contact information
Director: Dr. Sam Roberts, Chief Executive
Contact person(s): Jenniffer Prescott, Programme Director – HTA Process & Operations (Centre for Health Technology Evaluation)
Zoe Garrett, Senior Technical Adviser – Science Policy and Research Programme (Science, Evidence and Analytics)
Jonathan Simpson, Project Manager – Centre Coordination Team (Centre for Health Technology Evaluation) (for all general queries)
NICE
Level 1A, City Tower
Piccadilly Plaza
Manchester
M1 4BT, United Kingdom
Tel: ++44(0)300 323 0140
Internet: https://www.nice.org.uk/
Email: Jonathan.Simpson@nice.org.uk