NICE News November 2015

New guidance and standards Early birth guideline will be "instrumental" in improving outcomes for mothers and babies Latest guidelines on preventing early birth will be "instrumental" in improving outcomes for babies born prematurely and their mothers, a leading charity says. The guideline identifies ways to prevent preterm birth, to diagnose and manage preterm labour, and reduce the associated risks to the baby.

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Women with symptoms of menopause should not suffer in silence Women whose lives are being affected by the symptoms of menopause should not feel they have to suffer in silence, says NICE. In its first guideline on menopause, NICE recommends that help and information is available for women with menopause, and that a range of treatment options such as HRT can help.

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Reduce waste by carrying out blood transfusions only when necessary Blood transfusions should only be carried out when necessary to help avoid waste in the NHS and prevent risk to patients, according to new guidance. The guideline on blood transfusion makes a number of recommendations to help reduce variation in practice, increase patient safety, and prevent needless use of resources.

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Integrated care "critically important" for older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions Health and social care services should work more closely together to ensure older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions receive effective care, says NICE. The social care guideline calls for care to be integrated so that better, more person-centred care can be provided for the growing number of older people with social care needs and multiple long-term conditions.

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New guideline on children's attachment NICE has published a new guideline on attachment in children and young people who are adopted from care, in care or at high risk of going into care. The guideline covers the identification, assessment and treatment of attachment difficulties in children and young people up to age 18 who are adopted from care, in special guardianship, looked after by local authorities in foster homes, residential unites and other accommodation, or on the edge of care.

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News Consultation open on plans to reform Cancer Drug Fund   NHS England and NICE have begun a consultation on plans for a new Cancer Drugs Fund. The proposals are aimed at providing patients with access to promising new medicines while the evidence is still emerging, in a financially stable way.

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Helping people with AF make informed choices about their treatment NICE has endorsed a new decision support tool that aims to help healthcare professionals and people with atrial fibrillation make informed decisions about the most appropriate treatments.

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Into practice Adoption support resources for nalmefene and UroLift NICE has published an adoption support resource for guidance on nalmefene for reducing alcohol consumption in people with alcohol dependence. The resource is aimed at both clinical and non-clinical staff when implementing the guidance at a local level, and may be of particular interest to Health and Wellbeing Boards. An adoption support resource has also been produced for guidance on UroLift for treating lower urinary tract symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

New support for dementia and medicines optimisation NICE has published shared learning examples on dementia and medicines optimisation. The dementia example outlines how brief interventions carried out by health and social care professionals led them to evaluate their own lifestyles. The medicines optimisation example highlights how Guys & St Thomas Foundation Trust developed an innovative community based role to lead medicines optimisation within various health and social care teams.

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Get involved  NICE is looking for suggestions for areas of improvement in contraceptive services. We are interested in hearing from stakeholders as to what they consider would have the greatest potential to improve the quality of care. Your suggestions will help NICE develop a quality standard on contraceptive services. Register as a stakeholder to let us know your thoughts.

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Do you or your organisation have an interest in smoking cessation interventions and services? We're looking for comments from stakeholders to help develop the scope for our guideline on the topic. Register as a stakeholder and submit comments by 9 December 2015.

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NICE is recruiting health, public health and social care commissioners, clinicians and finance professionals to join its Adoption and Impact Programme Reference Panel. The external panel is made up of experts from health, public health and social care sectors, and meets 'virtually' through communicating with each other via phone and email. Panel members will support the development of NICE implementation tools to help commissioners and providers implement NICE guidance and standards. Using their experience with NHS and social care experience, panel members provide consultation comments on draft tools and feedback on published tools for evaluation purposes.

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Our Diagnostics Assessment Programme has vacancies for committee members in the following categories: NHS management Pathology, acute medicine or diagnostic scientist Industry representative The closing date for applications is 03 December 2015.

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Our Medical Technology Advisory Programme has vacancies for committee members in the following categories: NHS Senior Manager or Commissioner Senior Medical Device Company Representative Secondary care clinician with an interest in innovative technologies - applications are particularly invited from surgeons of any sub-specialty The closing date for applications is 01 December 2015.

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