NICE is conducting an update of NICE public health guidance 18 (2009).

The updated guidance has been extended to focus on providing needle and syringe programmes (NSPs) for young people aged under 16 who inject drugs and users of performance and image-enhancing drugs.

All registered stakeholders for this update are invited to comment on the provisional recommendations via this website during a 6 week consultation with stakeholders.

Organisations not registered as stakeholders are not able to comment. Find out 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 24 September and 5 November 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The draft guidance sets out the provisional recommendations that have been developed.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

• Needle and syringe programmes (update): draft guidance
• Needle and syringe programmes (update): 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 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 5 November 2013 at the very latest to nspupdate@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 Advisory Committee in developing the provisional recommendations. Please see the supporting evidence section of the draft guidance for further details.

• Review 1: ‘Update of NICE guidance PH18 on needle and syringe programmes: qualitative and quantitative review updates’
• Review 2: ‘Update of NICE guidance PH18 on needle and syringe programmes: PIEDs review’
• Review 3: ‘Injecting drug use among young people – risk, harm and factors affecting access to services: a systematic review of the evidence’
• Policy review and consensus development exercise: ‘Analysis of national and local policy and protocols on the delivery of needle and syringe programme services to young people under 18: policy review and consensus development exercise’

Reviews 1 and 2 were conducted by Liverpool John Moores University.

Review 3 and the ‘Policy review and consensus development exercise’ were conducted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

View the evidence revies and economic modelling used to develop the original guidance.