NICE medical technologies guidance: aims for clinical practice

NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) produces a range of advice and guidance on medical practice and technologies. NICE was established in 1999, and in 2009 set up its Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme. This assesses new devices in terms of whether their use would offer benefits to the patient and NHS at a lower cost compared with current practice, or increased benefits for equal cost. NICE evaluates single products only, as multiple product assessments are time-consuming and mean that manufacturers have to wait longer for NICE to produce guidance on adoption of their technologies. Research into devices and diagnostics is often sparse and of low quality as there is little regulation requiring good research in this area. As a result, products are often not accepted for evaluation, because the evidence base supporting their claimed benefits is so poor.