Good practice guidance on the development and updating of local formularies is being developed for use in the NHS in England and Wales. Stakeholders* for this guidance are invited to comment on the provisional recommendations via this website.

Organisations not registered as stakeholders are able to comment if they meet the definition of a stakeholder* for this guidance. Individuals are not able to comment, we recommend that you contact a stakeholder organisation that most closely represents your interests and pass your comments to them asking them to consider your comments in their response.

Note that the provisional recommendations presented here do not constitute the Institute's formal guidance on this topic. The recommendations are provisional and may change after consultation.

Consultation dates: 10 September - 8 October 2012

Consultation documents

• Draft guidance
• Comments proforma

Points to consider in the consultation

In addition to any general comments you may wish to submit about the provisional guidance we would value comments on:

• The practical value of the provisional recommendations
• Issues of style and format; for example, stakeholders may feel that the information could be made more readable and easy to follow.

How to submit your comments

Please provide all responses to the draft guidance using the comments proforma (ensuring all relevant fields are completed, including your organisation's full name) and forward this electronically by 5pm on 8 October 2012 at the very latest to this email address: LocalFormularies@nice.nhs.uk

The Institute is unable to accept:

• Comments from organisations that do not meet the definition of a stakeholder for this guidance
• Comments from individuals - please contact the stakeholder organisation that most closely represents your interests and pass your comments to them
• Comments received after the consultation deadline (5pm)
• Comments that are not on the correct proforma
• More than one response per stakeholder organisation
• Confidential information or other material that you would 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.

What will happen to your comments

All eligible comments will be viewed by the NICE project team and Guidance Development Group at the end of the consultation

Comments from stakeholders and nominated expert reviewers ONLY will be formally responded to and posted on the NICE website at the time of publication.

No action will be taken upon receipt of personal, individual comments, comments from organisations not meeting the definition of a stakeholder for this guidance and late comments.

PLEASE NOTE: The Institute reserves the right to summarise and edit comments received during consultations, or not to publish them at all, where in the reasonable opinion of the Institute, the comments are voluminous, publication would be unlawful or publication would be otherwise inappropriate.

Acknowledgement of comments

Comments received in the course or consultations carried out by the Institute 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 the Institute has received, and are not endorsed by the Institute, its officers or advisory committees.

Anticipated publication date: December 2012

*for the purposes of this guidance stakeholders are:

• national patient and carer organisations that directly or indirectly represent the interests of people whose care is covered by the guidance
• national organisations that represent the healthcare professionals who provide the services described in the guidance
• companies that manufacture the medicines or devices used in the area covered by the guidance and whose interests may be significantly affected by the guidance
• providers and commissioners of health services in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• statutory organisations including the Department of Health, the Welsh Assembly Government, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland, the Healthcare Commission and the National Patient Safety Agency
• research organisations that have done nationally recognised research in the area