Introduction & Methodology

Clinical guidelines are recommendations made by NICE on the treatments and care of people who use the NHS.  They are based on the best available evidence and written by a multi-disciplinary team of health care professionals and consumers who have particular expertise or experience in the topic of the guideline.  They are supported by the project team of the National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health who review the evidence and manage the production of the guideline.  Guidelines help health care professionals in their work but they do not replace their knowledge and skills.

Improving the quality of care

Clinical guidelines improve the quality of healthcare by changing the process of care and giving advice on treatment options.  Clinical guidelines:

  • provide recommendations for the treatment and care of people by health professionals
  • help patients to make informed decisions
  • improve communication between patient and health professional
  • are used to develop standards to assess the clinical practice of individual health professionals
  • are used in the education and training of health professionals
  • help the NHS make the best use of resources
  • inform future research

Versions of clinical guidelines

  • The full guideline contains the recommendations and care pathway.  It also provides summaries of the evidence used and how the Guideline Development Group have interpreted it.  This version is free on the NICE website and is produced by the RCOG Press on behalf of the partner organisations of the National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health.
  • The NICE guideline presents the recommendations alone
  • The quick reference guide presents summarized recommendations usually along a care pathway
  • Understanding NICE guidance is written using suitable language for people without specialist medical knowledge

Developing Clinical Guidelines

The methods used by NICE and its guideline developers are detailed in two documents: click here for the Guidelines Manual and the Guideline Development Process - Overview for Stakeholders, the Public and the NHS.

Below is a brief summary of the guideline development process.

1 Topic Selection and referral

The Department of Health refers topics to NICE.  Read more about how to suggest topics.

2. Stakeholders register interest

National organisations who represent consumers and health care professionals can get involved in guideline development by registering with NICE.  Read  more about stakeholder registration.

3. Scope prepared

The National Collaborating Centre for Women's and Children's Health drafts a scope which is then widely consulted.  Stakeholders have a key input at this early stage.  The scope sets out who the population of the guideline will be (for example pregnant women, or children with Eczema) and the type of care or treatment it will and will not cover.

4. Guideline Development Group recruited

The Guideline Develoment Group is recruited via open adverts which are available on the NICE website.  The type of health care professionals and consumers for each guideline is agreed with NICE.

5. Guideline Development

The Group considers the best available evidence, resources, patient experience and the context of care while drafting guideline recommendations.

6. Consultation on the draft guideline

Registered stakeholders are invited to review and comment on the guideline.  All of these comments are available at the publication of the guideline.  An independent Guideline Review Panel check the developers' responses to stakeholder comments to ensure they have been considered.  Read more about these Guideline Review Panels.

7, Pre-publication check

NICE now also make the final guideline available in a pre-publication check.

8. Guideline launch and publication

Following final approval from NICE the guideline is issued to the NHS. Often educational days are  held at the RCOG for women's topics and details of these events will be available on the guidelines pages on this website.