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Blog posted by: Professor Gillian Leng, deputy chief executive and director of health and social care at NICE, 26 March 2019.

NICE is embarking on an ambitious multi-year programme that will review the way we produce and present guidance and advice

Over the last 20 years, NICE has earned an international reputation for providing robust, evidence-based, independent advice. Our methods and processes are highly valued and respected, and NICE guidance and standards are used around the world. 

Since NICE was established in 1999, however, a number of things have changed.  Paper has largely been replaced by online digital advice for practitioners, data analytics is becoming as important as formal research, and the number of new technologies is rapidly increasing.  Alongside this, people expect information to be up-to-date and readily accessible.

The NICE Connect project represents an exciting and ambitious multi-year programme that will review all elements of the way NICE produces and presents guidance and advice. It will require us to listen to our users and commissioners, to consider external digital requirements, and to review our portfolio of advice and guidance.  

Taking all these things into account, the aim of the NICE Connect project is to improve health and care for patients and the public, as a result of:

1. Maintaining recommendations up to date, so care is always based on the best available evidence
2. Rapid sequencing of new drugs and technologies, so practitioners and commissioners can identify them and adopt more quickly
3. Integrating recommendations into IT systems, so it will be easier for practitioners to adhere to evidence-based practice
4. More accessible recommendations, so access to NICE advice is quicker and easier.

This project represents a significant piece of work for NICE.  The design, implementation and embedding of the necessary changes in ways of working and digital presentation will be a challenging journey, requiring additional and specialist resource to deliver. We will communicate regularly with all interested parties, to hear people’s views and to keep everyone informed of changes as they are put in place.