NICE News July 2016

New guidance and standards Sepsis is just as urgent as heart attack, says NICE NICE wants people who show signs of sepsis to be treated with the same urgency given to those with suspected heart attacks. The new guideline says all health professionals, no matter where they work in the NHS, need to think about the possibility of sepsis in all patients who may have an infection.

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Oral health should be a priority in care homes, says NICE NICE’s new guidance ‘Oral health for adults in care homes’ calls for oral health and access to dental treatments to be given the same priority as general health for all adults in care homes. Recommendations in the guidance focus on improving and maintaining residents’ day-to-day oral healthcare, ensuring staff are properly trained to confidently look after the oral health needs of residents, and there is adequate access to dental services when needed.

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Children and young people with suspected diabetes should be seen by a specialist immediately When a GP suspects a child or young person has diabetes, they should immediately be sent to hospital and seen the same day by a specialist, a new NICE quality standard says. The standard also says that children and young people with type 1 diabetes should be offered intensive insulin therapy to help them maintain near normal blood glucose levels. Diabetes management should include education, support and access to psychological services.

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NICE approves first drug from old Cancer Drugs Fund Dozens of patients with leukaemia will now have an automatic right to the drug bosutinib rather than having to apply to the Cancer Drugs Fund for it. It means the drug will become available through normal NHS funding channels whereas previously it was only available through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

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NICE recommends ataluren for children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy in final guidance NICE's announcement followed news that NHS England and the company, PTC Therapeutics, had successfully negotiated a 'managed access agreement' that established financial and clinical details surrounding the use of ataluren. As part of the agreement the usual 3-month funding period has been waived by NHS England, meaning ataluren could be available within weeks.

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News NICE guidance can reduce delays in hospital discharge raised by critical report NICE urges hospitals and local authorities to redouble their efforts to reduce delays in discharging patients from hospitals, following criticism from MPs. Professor Gillian Len, deputy chief executive and director of health and social care at NICE, said high quality guidance is available to tackle the problem but it needs to be implemented across the country,

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New competency framework for all prescribers A new and updated Competency Framework to support healthcare professionals to prescribe effectively has been published. Developed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in collaboration with NICE, the Framework sets out competencies central to effective performance needed by all prescribers, regardless of their professional background.

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Project to improve management of painful bowel condition wins 2016 Shared Learning Award A project that improved the management of a painful bowel condition, and reduced hospital referrals in Somerset has won this year’s 2016 NICE Shared Learning Award. Delegates at the NICE Forum held in Manchester voted for the project for its work in improving outcomes for patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

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Applications invited to join the NICE Board NICE is encouraging people with relevant experience to apply for one of the five Non-Executive Director posts now being advertised. The five roles are for an Audit and Risk Chair, a consultant in hospital medical practice, one with a background in public health, one with a background in social care and one as a patient/lay representative.

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Features NICE Forum in tweets The NICE Forum took place on Wednesday 6 July in Manchester Central. Held in association with the Patient Safety Congress, the Forum addressed the challenges faced by the healthcare sector. Here's a selections of tweets that were sent out over the course of the day.

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Blogs Ensuring NICE guidance is plain, clear, and easy to understand Thoughts on the importance of keeping NICE guidance clear and unambiguous, from Swaran Singh, professor of psychiatry.

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Introducing our new, user-friendly business plan Sir Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE, talks about our new business plan microsite.

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Finding comfort in a difficult time Thoughts on the sensitive issue of organ donation following the death of a child, from Bobbie Farsides, professor of clinical and biomedical ethics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

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Have your say Comment on our draft tuberculosis quality standard The quality standard covers preventing, identifying and managing latent and active tuberculosis (TB) in children, young people and adults.  Please submit any comments by 5pm on Tuesday 9 August 2016.

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Get involved  Chair needed for committee on assessment and management of renal stones guideline We’re looking for a skilled chair to advise the team regarding planning the development of this guideline. The person should have experience of: working with multi-professional committees or working groups at a national or regional level interpreting and discussing evidence with a committee. The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 12 August 2016.

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Join our Insight Community We're currently establishing an Insight Community providing opportunities for you to influence the development and improvement of a wider range of NICE’s products. You can do this by taking part in a number of activities, such as focus groups, interviews, and surveys. Your contribution would be much appreciated and help us shape the future of NICE’s products. So far, over 1,600 professionals have signed-up. If you would like to be part of our Insight Community, please complete the short survey below, it only takes 5 minutes.

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Register to attend our meetings in public Many of our advisory committee meetings are open for the public to observe proceedings and see how decisions are made on our guidance and products. If you are a member of the public, a service user or provider of health and social care guidance and products, or a stakeholder, we welcome you to attend. Wed 17 August – Diagnostics advisory committee (Manchester) Assessment of high-throughput non-invasive prenatal testing for fetal RHD genotype Registration closes on 3 August

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Into Practice  Sunlight exposure in primary school Have a look at NICE guidance in practice. NICE guidance on the benefits and risk of sunlight exposure was implemented in Alderley Edge School for Girls. The school used the guidance to ensure its pupils received safe amounts of sun exposure.

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Adoption support for sacubitril valsartan We’ve published two new resources to support the use of sacubitril for treating symptomatic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. The resources are intended for use by GPs and by both clinical staff and staff that manage and commission heart failure services who are planning to implement the guidance and start using this technology.

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Improving the prevention and diagnosis of bowel cancer Public Health England has launched a new resource on bowel cancer. The resource aims to lower the number of people who develop bowel cancer, encourage more eligible people to come forward for screening, and achieve an uptake target of 75%. The resource highlights what we know about how bowel cancer affects people, with an aim to help achieve these goals.

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Guidance, standards and advice      Guidance Sepsis: recognition, diagnosis and early management Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma: diagnosis and management Type 1 diabetes in adults: diagnosis and management Type 2 diabetes in adults: management Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid modification Prophylaxis against infective endocarditis: antimicrobial prophylaxis against infective endocarditis in adults and children undergoing interventional procedures Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD): assessment and management Cirrhosis in over 16s: assessment and management Oral health for adults in care homes Highly specialised technologies  Ataluren for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy with a nonsense mutation in the dystrophin gene Interventional procedure guidance Percutaneous endoscopic laser balloon pulmonary vein isolation for atrial fibrillation Technology appraisals  Abiraterone for castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer previously treated with a docetaxel-containing regimen Abiraterone for treating metastatic hormone-relapsed prostate cancer before chemotherapy is indicated Lumacaftor–ivacaftor for treating cystic fibrosis homozygous for the F508del mutation Azacitidine for treating acute myeloid leukaemia with more than 30% bone marrow blasts Nivolumab in combination with ipilimumab for treating advanced melanoma Quality standards Diabetes in children and young people Motor neurone disease Medtech innovation briefings Lutonix drug-coated balloon for peripheral arterial disease QTUG for assessing falls risk and frailty Stretta System for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease Ultroid 2.0 for internal haemorrhoids Alair bronchial thermoplasty system for adults with severe difficult to control asthma