Shared decision making

Shared decision making; what you should expect

Shared decision making involves healthcare professionals and people working together to make joint decisions about care. It means always putting people at the centre of decisions about their treatment and care.

We have written this guideline about the best ways to make sure shared decision making happens in practice. We want it to improve the experience of healthcare for everyone.

Shared decision making means that people:

• can decide how much they want to share in decisions about their health
• feel they have been listened to and their needs put first
• feel happier with their care, leading to better outcomes for their health.

We wrote this guideline with healthcare professionals, experts in shared decision making and people who use healthcare services, and their families and carers. All the decisions are based on the best available research.

Where can I find out more?

Read more on the NICE website about making decisions about your care.

In the news

Read NICE news about how this guideline will help.

Shared decision making underpins good healthcare

Shared decision making between service users and healthcare professionals is an integral part of healthcare, says NICE, in new guideline recommendations published today.

See what NICE says

ISBN: 978-1-4731-4146-9