WIREDGOV

NICE has launched a new page on the website that will allow, for the first time, patients, carers and members of the public to search for the versions of guidance that are written for them.

They produce versions of all their guidance for patients, carers and the public. For all of their guidance, except public health, this version is called ‘understanding NICE guidance’ and summarises, in plain English, the recommendations that they make to health and other professionals.

For public health, they produce a version of the guidance called a ‘quick reference guide’ which summarises their recommendations for health and other professionals as well as for the public.

But until now, patients and the public have had to look through the individual pieces of NICE guidance in order to identify the relevant patient versions.

“The new webpage will allow users to find all of the understanding NICE guidance and quick reference guides in one place. This is something that members of the public have said they would find extremely useful,” said Victoria Thomas, Associate Director of the Patient and Public Involvement Programme at NICE.

“The new page will allow us to provide patients and the public with easy access to information that is specifically tailored to meet their needs. This in turn can help people make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing, and the treatment options available to them”

NICE is a corporate member of the Plain English Campaign, which highlights that the guidance is written in plain English and in the clearest possible way.

In addition, they are part of the Information Standard, a nationally recognised standard for health and social care information producers, that confirms that the patient versions of our guidance are reliable and trustworthy, and are appropriate for their intended audience.

Their lay versions of NICE guidance have also picked up a number of awards over the years. Most recently, two understanding NICE guidance documents were recognised at the 2009 British Medical Association (BMA) patient information awards.

The document for the clinical guideline on stroke (CG68) was commended, and the leaflet on the interventional procedure ‘Stent insertion for bleeding oesophageal varices’(IPG265) was highly commended.

The judges commented that the interventional procedure leaflet was well written and that the list of suggested questions for patients to ask their doctors was very useful. They praised the leaflet as being ‘a clear and concise treatment of the subject’.

The new webpage can be found at: http://www.nice.org.uk/patientsandpublic, and has been given a permanent web link so that patients can bookmark it as their homepage for NICE guidance.