ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the short-term opportunities that allowed the establishment of NICE in 1997–99, why the arrival of a New Labour government was the catalyst for NICE’s emergence, and how other parties and stakeholders, such as the world’s pharmaceutical industries, reacted to its appearance. We examine how policy decisions were reached on the form that NICE should take and discuss DH’s focus on the quality of health care, alongside its concerns about priority setting and making best use of scarce resources. Michael Rawlins, NICE’s first chair; Tony Culyer, the first deputy chair; and Andrew Dillon, the first chief executive, are introduced.
