NICE integrated topic prioritisation and strategic principles

3 Summary of the integrated topic prioritisation process

The integrated topic prioritisation process is designed to ensure that NICE guidance reflects national priorities for health and care, in line with NICE's principles.

If a new topic or update of an existing guidance addresses a national priority (see section 4) and meets the pre-stage 1 eligibility criteria (see section 6), a topic briefing is prepared, and the topic is assessed using a prioritisation framework (see section 7). The NICE prioritisation board decides whether new NICE guidance or an update to existing guidance should be prioritised for further development, and what type(s) of guidance the topic is likely to be best addressed by (see section 6.1.1). The NICE strategic principles for public health, social care and rare diseases (section 12) will also be considered throughout the whole process of integrated topic prioritisation, from pre-stage 1 to stage 2.

For the integrated topic prioritisation processes, see appendix 1: supporting document: process diagrams.

The 2024 Department of Health and Social Care voluntary scheme for branded medicines, pricing, access and growth states that NICE will evaluate new active substances and significant licence extensions for existing medicines except where there is a clear rationale not to do so. These new medicines do not need to go through the NICE integrated topic prioritisation process; however, in exceptional circumstances, medicines not falling into these categories, for example established medicines, may be considered by the NICE prioritisation board.

The prioritisation board will also make highly specialised technologies routing decisions (appendix 3).