NICE is conducting a partial update of the ‘brief advice’ recommendations in NICE public health guidance 2 (2006).

This update aims to provide greater detail than NICE public health guidance 2 on how brief advice on physical activity can be incorporated more routinely into primary care than is currently the case. Additionally, the recommendations focus on the role of local infrastructure and systems in supporting the delivery of brief advice. The recommendations in the final guidance will supersede recommendations 1–4 in NICE public health guidance 2.

All registered stakeholders for this update are invited to comment on the provisional recommendations via this website during an 8 week consultation with stakeholders.

Organisations not registered as stakeholders are not able to comment.

• Further information about how your organisation can become a stakeholder.

Please note - the provisional recommendations presented here do not constitute NICE formal guidance on this topic. The recommendations are provisional and may change after consultation.

This consultation will take place between 21 November 2012 and 23 January 2013

The draft guidance sets out the provisional recommendations that have been developed.
Please note - Comments forms with attachments such as research articles, letters or leaflets will not be accepted. If comments forms do have attachments they will be returned without being read. If the stakeholder resubmits the form without attachments, it must be by the consultation deadline.

Consultation Documents:

• Physical activity brief advice in primary care: draft guidance
• Physical activity brief advice in primary care: stakeholder comments form

Points to consider in the consultation:

• Points or areas that are not covered, but which appear to fall within the scope of the guidance.
• Potential inconsistencies or any disagreement with the  Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee’s interpretation of the evidence and its applicability.
• The practical value of the provisional recommendations.
• Issues of presentation and style, including how the provisional recommendations have been grouped and ordered.
• Whether the right organisations and individuals have been identified under ‘Who should take action’ for each recommendation.
• Do you think this guidance could be improved to better promote equality of opportunity relating to age, disability, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion and belief, sexual orientation or socio-economic status? If so,  please include details of:
    -  Which particular parts of the guidance you think affect equality of opportunity.
    -  Why and how you think equality of opportunity is affected.
• In addition are there reasons why any of the recommendations in the guidance may result in an increase in inequality of opportunity relating to age, disability, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, religion and belief, sexual orientation or socio-economic status?

How to submit your comments:

Please provide all responses to this draft guidance using the Stakeholder Comments Form (ensuring all relevant fields are completed, including your organisation's name). Please forward the form by 5pm on Wednesday 23 January 2013 at the very latest to PAinprimarycare@nice.org.uk

NICE is unable to accept:

• More than one response per stakeholder organisation
• Comments received after the consultation deadline
• Comments that are not complete on a stakeholder comments form
• Confidential information or other material that you would not wish to be made public
• Comments forms with attachments such as research articles, letters or leaflets. If comments forms do have attachments they will be returned without being read. If the stakeholder resubmits the form without attachments, it must be by the consultation deadline.

What will happen to your comments?

• All comments (with the exception of personal, individual comments and late comments) will be sent to the project team at the end of the consultation
• Comments from registered stakeholders will be formally responded to by the project team and posted on the NICE website after the final guidance is published.
• No action will be taken upon receipt of personal, individual comments and late comments.

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

Supporting evidence

The following evidence was used by the Public Health Interventions Advisory Committee in developing the provisional recommendations. Please see appendix C (‘The Evidence’) of the draft guidance for further details.

Evidence reviews

• Physical activity: brief advice for adults in primary care (review of effectiveness and barriers and facilitators)

The review was conducted by the University of Sheffield School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR).

Economic analyses

• Brief advice for adults in primary care: review of economic barriers and facilitators
• Brief advice for adults in primary care: review of the economic evidence
• Brief advice for adults in primary care: economic modelling of brief advice on physical activity for adults in primary care

The economic reviews and analyses were conducted by Brunel University London Health Economics Research Group (HERG).