3 The Committee

NICE process and methods

The particular Committee composition and the best time for recruiting the Committee for service guidance will be determined by the topic, so no specific guidance is possible. Consideration should be given to recruiting Committee members early in the process in order to support the development of the scope and early conceptual model development. Standard recruitment methods should be followed to ensure that the process is fair and transparent (see section 3.2 of 'The guidelines manual'), and attendees at the stakeholder scoping workshop should be encouraged to apply.

The Committee should include representatives from:

all clinical specialities involved in the delivery of care
providers and commissioners of services
the main regional areas of England
national clinical organisations
patients and carers and their organisations
methodologists such as health economists, statisticians and clinical epidemiologists (especially if they have topic-specific knowledge).

In view of the breadth of clinical areas that may be covered and the various levels of NHS management, it will be necessary to have wider representation on the Committee than is the case for clinical guidelines. To ensure that all relevant groups are all represented, a larger Committee than for standard clinical guidelines may be required. Alternatively, to maintain good group dynamics, additional groups could be represented by co-opted expert advisers (see section 3.1.7.1 of 'The guidelines manual'). The approach used will vary by topic and should be decided in consultation with NICE. The quorum of the Committee will be 50% of appointed members, as specified in The guidelines manual.

Committee meetings will follow the procedures outlined in section 3.8 of 'The guidelines manual'.