We would like to receive suggestions from stakeholders about areas for quality improvement, i.e. key areas related to the topic which would be considered to have the greatest potential to improve the quality of care.

The topic overview for the quality standard is published on the NICE website for information and describes core elements of the quality standard.

Stakeholder registration

If you wish to register as a stakeholder for this topic please complete a stakeholder registration form.

Engagement documents

• Gallstone disease topic overview 
• Engagement comments proforma

Question for this engagement exercise

We are interested in receiving information on the following:

• What are the key areas for quality improvement that you would want to see covered by this quality standard?
• In answering this question, prioritise up to 5 areas which you consider as having the greatest potential to improve the quality of care.
• For each key area for quality improvement, please state the specific aspects of care or service delivery that should be addressed, including the actions that you feel would most improve quality – we cannot include general statements.
• In addition to the above, you may also wish to highlight any areas of practice that might be considered as emergent, are only currently being done by a minority of providers but which have the potential to be widely adopted and drive improvements in the longer term.  Please note, these areas should be underpinned by NICE or NICE-accredited guidance.

In support of your suggestions, it is essential that you provide:

• Evidence or information that care in the suggested key areas for quality improvement is poor or variable and requires improvement?
• If available, any national data sources that collect data relating to your suggested key areas for quality improvement?

NICE is unable to:

• Consider comments received after the consultation deadline (5pm)
• Consider comments that are not on the correct proforma
• Accept more than one response per stakeholder organisation
• Accept confidential information or other material that you would not wish to be made public. If you wish to provide academic in confidence material i.e. written but not yet published, or commercial in confidence i.e. internal documentation, please could you highlight this.
• Accept personal medical information about yourself or another person from which your or the person’s identity could be ascertained.

How to submit your suggestions

• We are interested in a range of different types of information to support the basis for quality improvement and potential development within the quality standard.
• We would like to receive concise supporting information for each key area.  Please provide reference to examples from the published or grey literature such as national, regional or local reports of variation in care, audits, surveys, confidential enquiries, uptake reports and evaluations such as impact of NICE guidance recommendations.
• Please note that for copyright reasons we cannot accept submissions with electronic attachments of published material (eg journal articles), or hard copies of published material.However, if you give us the full citation, we will obtain our own copy.
• We are able to accept attachments of unpublished reports, local reports / documents. If you wish to provide academic in confidence material i.e. written but not yet published, or commercial in confidence i.e. internal documentation, please could you highlight this. This can be done using the highlighter function in word.
• Please provide all submissions using the comments proforma (ensuring all relevant fields are completed, including your organisation's full name) and forward this electronically by 5pm on Friday 27 March 2015 at the very latest to this email address: QStopicengagement@nice.org.uk

What will happen to your suggestions

• All eligible suggestions for quality improvement received during this engagement exercise will be reviewed by the Health and Social Care Programme team.
• This information will be considered by the Quality Standards Advisory Committee (QSAC) who will agree which quality statements and measures should be developed for the quality standard. Our process guide sets out the criteria and processes involved in quality standards development.
• Comments on the topic overview from registered stakeholders are then published on the NICE website.
• Comments provided in this engagement exercise will not receive a formal response.
• Note that this is not a consultation on the draft quality standard. There will be a consultation on the draft quality standard when it has been produced according to the development schedule for this topic.

Supporting NICE Quality Standards

If you would like your organisation to formally support this quality standard please email QSsupportingorgs@nice.org.uk  to express an interest. NICE is proud to work with organisations who share our commitment to ensuring that quality improvement in a topic area is based on evidence-based guidance to ensure that those commissioning, providing or using services are made aware of and encouraged to use the quality standard.

Organisations who are interested in supporting NICE quality standards must be:

• National patient, service users, carer, voluntary, charity and non-governmental organisations that are run by, or directly reflect the perspectives of people who use services, carers or client groups, and represent the interests of people whose care is covered by the quality standard.
• National organisations that represent the professionals and practitioners who provide the care or services described in the quality standard.
• National organisations that represent commissioners or providers of the care or services described in the quality standard.
• Statutory organisations (an organisation set up by government for a specific purpose) including Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Further information about supporting NICE quality standards will be available during the draft quality standard consultation phase.