UK NICE Explores Extending Use of Real-World Data to Inform Its Guidance

June 25, 2019—The United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) announced that it is looking to extend the use of real-world data that will help inform its independent committees that produce its guidance.

The institute already makes use of a wide range of published scientific evidence for its guidance for the National Health Service on health technologies and its advisory guidelines, which demonstrate best practice for diagnosing and managing a range of conditions.

Now, NICE proposes to extend its use of data from sources including:

• Hospital records of operations
• Registries that collect data on how particular treatments are used
• Surveys of people using services
• Data collected on national trends, such as how many people have a condition

If approved, NICE believes it will help the institute further improve its guidance, update it more quickly, and provide a better understanding of the impact it has for people accessing health and social care services. A consultation has begun in NICE's Statement of Intent, which set out the ways in which the institute already uses data in its work and how it would like to extend this in the future.

More information is available at nice.org.uk, where interested parties can participate in a survey to consult on the proposal before 5:00 PM on Friday, September 13, 2019.