Consultation dates: 01 December - 4 January 2015 (5pm)

NICE is developing a guideline on safe staffing for nursing in inpatient mental health settings. The draft scope defines what the guideline will cover and to whom it will apply. All registered stakeholders for this guideline are encouraged to submit comments on the scope and may suggest questions that the guideline could answer. This is a valuable opportunity to ensure that the guideline considers issues important to your members.

Registered stakeholder organisations are asked to submit a collated response from all members, because NICE is able to accept only 1 comment form per stakeholder organisation. Where views on the guideline are shared by more than 1 stakeholder organisation, NICE encourages these organisations to work together to produce a joint response. This should be submitted by 1 registered stakeholder; other stakeholders supporting the joint response should respond to the consultation noting their endorsement.

Organisations can check to see if they meet the criteria to become a stakeholder and register to become a stakeholder. If you are an individual who wishes to comment on this consultation, we recommend that you contact the registered stakeholder organisation that most closely represents your interests and pass your comments to them.

Consultation documents

• Draft scope

Background documents

• Developing NICE guidelines: a guide for stakeholders and the public. This guide gives stakeholders an overview of the processes and methods for guideline development, and explains in more detail how stakeholders can contribute. It includes suggested areas for stakeholders to consider and comment on in the draft scope.
• Equality impact assessment

Points to consider

Possible areas for comment on the draft scope

Does the scope:

• Take account of issues relating to treatment and care, or improving health and wellbeing that are important for people affected by the guideline?
• Include medicines, procedures and other treatments or options for care (such as advice about lifestyle changes) that may be important for people affected by the guideline?
• Include treatments or other interventions that are currently used, but may not be effective, acceptable or tolerable to people using services?
• Note any equality issues or aspects of care or services that the guideline should address (examples include information and support, perceived risks and benefits of and individual choice or preference about a treatment or activity, and cultural differences that may affect the use of an intervention or approach to care)?
• Promote equality of opportunity regardless of age, disability, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, religion and belief, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status?
• Unfairly exclude any groups (for example, by age or general health)?
• Use sensitive wording that is respectful of people using services, carers and people working in health or social care?
• Refer to government policies, guidance (for example, from the Department of Health) or other major projects related to this topic (such as promotional campaigns) that should be used when developing the guideline?

What will happen to your comments

• All eligible comments will be sent to the Developer at the end of the consultation.
• The Developer will formally respond to comments from registered stakeholders, the comments and responses will be published alongside the final scope on the NICE website.
• We will send comments from individuals, rather than registered stakeholder, to the Developer, but will not publish responses to them.
• Please note: NICE reserves the right to summarise and edit comments received during consultations, or not to publish them at all, if in our reasonable opinion the comments are lengthy or publication would be unlawful or otherwise inappropriate.

NICE is unable to accept:

• More than 1 response per stakeholder organisation.
• Comments received after the consultation closes.
• Comments that are not on the correct comment form.
• Comments in PDF.
• Confidential information or other material that you do not wish to be made public.
• Personal medical information about yourself or another person from which your or the person's identity could be ascertained.
• For copyright reasons, comments forms with attachments such as research articles, letters or leaflets. If comments forms have attachments they will be returned without being read. The stakeholder may resubmit the form without attachments, but it must be received by the consultation deadline.

Comments received during NICE consultations are published in the interests of openness and transparency, and to promote understanding of how recommendations are developed. The comments are published as a record of the submissions that NICE has received, and are not endorsed by NICE, its officers or advisory Committees.

This page was last updated: 18 December 2014