ABSTRACT
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines advise health professionals, patients and carers on the best treatment and care that should be offered to people with a particular disease or condition. The Guideline Development Groups are convened by one of four National Collaborating Centres that NICE commissions to develop the guidelines on its behalf. NICE involves a wide range of lay participants who would not choose to describe themselves as patients or carers. Patients and carers can help those responsible for developing a clinical guideline to understand what it is like to live with a medical condition or disability, and what different forms of treatment and care mean to them. NICE also has a 'short' clinical guideline development programme, which develops guideline recommendations on a discrete area of care over a much shorter period of time. The choice of topics for which NICE develops clinical guidelines is determined by the Department of Health.
