1 Purpose of this document
NICE's early value assessment of virtual reality technologies for treating agoraphobia or agoraphobic avoidance recommends that further evidence is generated while the virtual reality technology gameChangeVR (Oxford VR) is being used in the NHS to treat severe agoraphobic avoidance in people with psychosis aged 16 and over. The other technologies that were assessed can only be used in research and are not covered in this plan.
This plan outlines the evidence gaps and what real-world data needs to be collected for a NICE review of the technology again in the future. It is not a study protocol but suggests an approach to generating the information needed to address the evidence gaps.
The company is responsible for ensuring that data collection and analysis takes place. Support for evidence generation will be available through a competitive process facilitated by the Office for Life Sciences, pending business case approval. This will be in the form of funding for evidence generation consortia, bringing analytical partners and implementation sites together with developers for evidence generation.
Guidance on commissioning and procurement of the technology will be provided by NHS England, who is developing a digital health technology policy framework to further outline commissioning pathways.
NICE will withdraw the guidance if the company does not meet the conditions in section 4 on monitoring.
After the end of the evidence generation period (3 years, or sooner if enough evidence is available), the company should submit the evidence to NICE in a form that can be used for decision making. NICE will review all the evidence and assess whether or not the technology can be routinely adopted in the NHS.