WIREDGOV

NICE is making some important changes to how you can access our guidance.

From October 2011, all new guidance will be published in a range of formats on our website. For the first time NICE Pathways versions of all our guidance will be available at the time of publication. NICE Pathways is our new way of providing quick and easy access to everything NICE has said on a topic.

NICE will no longer be supplying or mailing printed copies of our guidance.A substantial increase in the quantity and range of NICE guidance in recent years means that in the face of challenging savings and efficiency targets, we do not have the resource to print and mail guidance any more.

Currently, we spend over £1 million a year on printing, mailing, storing, and distributing our guidance. We expect to make substantial savings through our switch to digital.

Another driver for change is the increasing complexity and inter-relatedness of our guidance products which makes it increasingly difficult to keep printed copies up to date.

NICE Pathways, however, can be easily and quickly updated as new guidance is published. It also allows interactivity and linkage between different guidance topics and types - something that has not been possible with print-formatted versions of our guidance.

So far, feedback on NICE Pathways has been very positive which has led to us concentrating our resources on enhancing and developing this and other services.

The best way of keeping up to date with everything NICE has produced is to subscribe to NICE news, our monthly email newsletter which contains news and information on our entire range of guidance, quality standards, new on QOF and NHS Evidence, as well as a complete list of guidance and tools produced that month.

In the coming months we are also relaunching our website to make it easier to search and browse guidance.

The new improved website will be one of a range of products we are continuing to develop and use new ways to ensure that those that need our guidance have access to it.

The Update for Primary Care (UPC) newsletter, aimed at GPs and practice staff, is among the products we are developing.

The last hard copy version will be published later this month and will be replaced with a new electronic bulletin from October 2011.

To subscribe, send an email with your name, job title and email address to sanjay.tanday@nice.org.uk