Our forward view highlights the areas we will prioritise in the coming year.
These topics will be refreshed on an annual basis. We may also update them during the year in response to major developments or new innovations in the life sciences, health and care.
The topics we're prioritising
Our mission is to get the best treatments to patients fast at value to the taxpayer.
Through this forward view, we will highlight the topics we are focusing on, and that matter most to you in the health and care system.
Our priorities for 2024 to 2025
Mental health
Topics in development
Diagnostics guidance
Why:
- Significant unmet clinical need across multiple conditions and populations, exacerbated by the pandemic.
- Long-standing workforce and service constraints.
- New opportunities emerging in digital technologies and medical devices that have the potential to help address some of these challenges with the promise of significant population benefits.
Early cancer detection/diagnosis
Topics in development
Diagnostics guidance
Health technology evaluation
Why:
- Growing demand across cancer pathways and multiple cancer types.
- Emergence of novel diagnostics including digital and AI technologies that may support earlier detection of cancer.
- The budget implications for these technologies and downstream treatment pathways could be significant.
Diabetes
Topics in development
Why:
- Growing diabetes population with a high likelihood of undiagnosed groups.
- Digital health technologies becoming available for behavioural change in diabetes to support treatment and monitoring.
Musculoskeletal conditions
Topics in development
Medical technologies
Heath technology evaluation
Why:
- Musculoskeletal conditions account for one of the highest burdens of disease in England, with impacts on health-related quality of life, employment and productivity.
- Digital and medical devices offer novel ways of managing the population presenting with these issues.
Women’s health
Topics in development
Guidance on women's health
Women’s and reproductive health guidelines
Why:
- Women’s health conditions are known to be significantly underdiagnosed.
- This area has seen large investment and a recent growth in innovation to address some of the most pressing challenges.
Respiratory
Topics in development
Diagnostics guidance
Medical technologies
Health technology evaluation
Guidelines
Why:
- Significant growth in service demand for chronic respiratory conditions, coupled with well-documented health inequalities and workforce constraints, may lead to suboptimal outcomes.
- Technology is increasingly playing a part in delivering effective interventions to patients.
Neurology
Topics in development
Medical technologies
Technology appraisal
- Donanemab for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease [ID6222].
- Lecanemab for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia caused by Alzheimer’s disease [ID4043].
- Hydromethylthionine mesylate for treating mild cognitive impairment or mild or moderate dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease [ID6343].
- Ganaxolone for treating seizures caused by CDKL5 deficiency disorder in people 2 years and over [ID3988].
- Fenfluramine for treating seizures associated with Lennox–Gastaut syndrome in people 2 years and over [ID1651].
Why:
- Several medicines for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are being developed alongside diagnostic tools that would benefit from NICE assessment.
- Other neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and tics and Tourette’s have seen recent innovation which NICE has already assessed or is planning to assess.
Learn more about our prioritisation process.
We will also be producing guidance on treatments for obesity, sickle cell disease and certain types of cancer.
Further details of forthcoming guidance, alongside dates of publication, are available through our resource planner.
Focusing on what matters most
We've developed the forward view to ensure we’re focusing on the areas that matter most to you in the health and care system.
Topics are aligned to national priorities. These include:
Health and care policy and priorities
- NHS priorities and operational planning guidance
- NHS long term plan
- Major conditions strategy
- Health inequalities.
Innovation
Social care
Jonathan Benger, Chief Medical Officer, Deputy CEO and Interim Director of the Centre for Guidelines, explains the rationale for prioritisation.
Topics prioritised in 2023 and 2024
We prioritised the following topics, which align with our refreshed principles of relevance, timeliness, and useful and usable guidance.
Relevant – focusing on what matters most
- artificial pancreas for type 1 diabetes and automated pin prick tests for type 2 diabetes
- personalised immunotherapy treatments for blood cancer
- virtual wards guidance
- new guidance on the menopause
- new advice on statins could benefit millions.
Impactful – addressing system pressures and improving productivity
- Home tests we recommended for people with signs of colorectal cancer could lead to fewer colonoscopies annually, and reduce waiting times.
- Artificial intelligence technologies that can be used to reduce the time spent planning treatment.
Timeliness – helping to get the best care to people fast
We published guidance on 2 medicines within 24 hours of marketing authorisation.
Topic suites
We have also mapped our portfolio of existing guidelines into topic suites. These are topics:
- that are national system priorities
- where the evidence is changing at pace or contains uncertainty
- that have a significant cost or other resource impact on the system
- that have an impact on health inequalities.
Our current topic suites are:
What's next? Emerging areas and innovations in health and care
Our horizon scanning function looks at emerging trends in health and care, new technologies, and policies.
In the next 2 to 5 years, we expect the emerging areas to include evaluating new innovations in currently underserved clinical areas. We will also evaluate new delivery models aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of existing treatment options.
These areas include:
- New pharmacological treatments emerging for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). These address the lack of current options in this significant and growing area of need.
- Continued emergence of new Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). Particular growth is expected in the number of RNA-therapies potentially coming to market in the medium term.
- Increased focus on the prudent use of antibiotics. This includes rapid diagnostic tests for use in the community to support clinical decision making, alongside accompanying innovation in technologies and decision support systems.
- Adoption of foundational technical advances to enhance the performance of existing health technologies. Examples include the addition of AI-based capabilities to medical devices, or the application of improved battery technology to implantable devices.
- Changing treatment approaches and more personalised medicine. This is driven by the availability of high-throughput sequencing and increased analytical capacity, including the use of AI and machine learning bringing together genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and epigenomics.