NICE process and methods

3 Who is involved in producing NICE treatment option summaries?

3 Who is involved in producing NICE treatment option summaries?

3.1 The development team

The development team is made up of pharmacists, technical, publishing, digital living guidelines, project and administrative staff from across NICE. The current process is led by the medicines optimisation team. A senior member of this team such as an associate director of medicines optimisation or senior medicines adviser has overall responsibility for developing these products. They are responsible for:

  • developing and reviewing this process guide

  • selecting and prioritising potential topics

  • scoping and developing treatment option summaries in line with this process guide

  • setting up or maintaining the clinical expert group, if required for each topic, and working with experts to ensure that the content of the product is relevant and useful

  • providing quality assurance for the development process and the treatment option summaries.

The development team work with other NICE teams to:

  • discuss topic selection and prioritisation

  • check for overlaps with other NICE work

  • recruit specialist members for the project group

  • coordinate work with the guideline committee (or the appraisal committee if applicable) and key stakeholders

  • provide additional clinical input when needed

  • ensure products are clear and useful.

3.2 Expert input

Expert input is required to peer review each treatment options summary to ensure relevance in a clinical setting. This is provided by experts with experience of the topic, usually guideline committee members with additional experts when required. They include healthcare professionals, people who use healthcare services, and external stakeholders (such as NHS England specialised commissioning). The experts are asked to:

  • answer clinical questions and advise on the positioning of technologies

  • comment on the accuracy of the summary of treatment options and whether it reflects current clinical practice

  • comment on the clarity and presentation of the visual product.