Interventional procedures programme manual

16 Publication, dissemination and surveillance of guidance

Guidance is published in electronic form. Each piece of guidance is explained in a lay version of the guidance produced by NICE called 'information for the public'. This is developed in consultation with specialist and lay Committee members, and specialist advisers as needed. The 'information for the public' is published in English and, at a later date, in Welsh.

During guidance development, appropriate OPCS codes for the procedure are identified and reviewed by the committee. These codes are published with guidance on the NICE website. The programme also liaises with the Health and Social Care Information Centre Clinical Classifications Service to identify when a new code is needed for a procedure because no appropriate codes currently exist. New codes are also published on the NICE website when they become available.

Also, new guidance is considered in terms of appropriate inclusion and presentation in NICE Pathways. Pathways are an online tool accessed through the NICE website that provide access, topic by topic, to the range of guidance from NICE (including interventional procedures guidance) and NICE implementation tools.

When the Committee recommends that special arrangements be in place for audit, and there is no existing register or data collection facility in place, NICE also develops an audit tool for the procedure, to help and encourage good auditing practice for the procedure. The tool is developed with advice from specialist advisers and Committee members, as appropriate.

When guidance recommends that a procedure should not be used, the programme team advises the Department of Health, Welsh Government, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Northern Ireland Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety of the contents of the guidance, along with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency if the procedure involves a device.