International collaboration - building strong and resilient health and care systems

Following the launch of the international strategy for NICE, I’m keen to reflect on the importance of international collaborations and partnerships. The COVID-19 pandemic, the extraordinary pace of healthcare innovation, rising costs and the need for accessible, reliable, up-to-date information, are just a few examples highlighting the importance of shared learning on a global scale. It’s clear that international collaboration is crucial to building stronger and more resilient health and care systems. The exciting new international strategy sets out how our work will contribute to improvements in evidence-based decision making across the world, and how we will establish collaborative relationships to ensure learnings and benefits are shared with NICE, the NHS and the wider UK health and care system.  

The strategy highlights the need to share learning and expertise where NICE is recognised as world-leading. This includes areas such as health technology assessment, guideline development, stakeholder involvement and the development of scientific networks. While a ‘one-size fits all’ approach is unhelpful, the UK experience is, in many ways, comparable to other health and care systems and our methods and processes can be adapted for other geographical contexts.

The international strategy also highlights NICE’s role as UK life sciences ambassador. By building on this position, we can leverage expertise from other countries. This will support our own methodological and process developments. It will also help NICE to make best use of our resources, utilising research and outputs developed collaboratively to inform our work.

Through the work of NICE International and the Science, Policy and Research Programme, NICE already has extensive experience in the international arena. Both teams will act as key enablers of the strategy. Its successful delivery will rely on the contribution of colleagues from across the organisation, as well as that of external collaborators and partners.

As detailed in NICE’s overarching 5-year strategy, NICE is committed to: “making a significant impact on health and wellbeing across the UK and globally for many years to come.” I’m excited to collaborate with colleagues across the world to put science and evidence at the heart of health and care decision making.