How NICE is using AI 

 

NICE News for Health and Social Care

Bringing you our latest news, features and guidance.

More people benefitting from statins

Around 5.3 million people in England were prescribed NICE- recommended statins or ezetimibe to lower cholesterol in 2023/24, nearly 900,000 more than the previous year. This increase, the largest on record, is part of NHS efforts to reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) – the cause of over a quarter of all deaths in England. 
 
This rise in prescriptions coincides with the publication of our updated CVD: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid modification guideline. This includes new cholesterol targets aimed at improving early detection and treatment of CVD.

Managing tic disorders and Tourette syndrome

We’ve published draft guidance recommending 2 digital technologies for NHS use over 3 years, while further evidence is generated. The technologies could reduce the severity of the symptoms of chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome. 

This is the first time we've recommended digital therapies for these conditions, which developers believe could improve a user's ability to go about their everyday life. The first line treatment option will remain as psychoeducation before one of the technologies could be offered. Consultation is open until Tuesday 17 December.

Updated guideline seeks to speed up endometriosis diagnosis

We’ve updated our guideline to help diagnose and manage endometriosis more effectively and produced a visual summary on first presentation, initial diagnosis, referral and ongoing care

Affecting around 1.5 million women in the UK, key changes include:  

  • recommending specialist ultrasound as an alternative to MRI for investigating suspected cases in secondary care

  • introducing early transvaginal ultrasound for all suspected cases, even if initial pelvic or abdominal examinations appear normal. 

The guideline also strengthens recommendations about patient referrals and emphasises the importance of providing better information throughout a patient’s care journey. These improvements aim to reduce the average 8-10 year waiting time for diagnosis, helping to ensure faster treatment and better care.

Catch up on our latest news


NICE Talks

Our updated menopause guideline

In this episode of our NICE Talks podcast, we discuss our updated guideline on the identification and management of the menopause. We’re joined by Marie Anne Ledingham, NHS obstetrician and gynaecologist, and Martha Hickey, consultant gynaecologist and topic adviser on our menopause guideline committee.

Listen to menopause podcast

Menopause tools and resources

We've also produced a range of tools to help you put our menopause guidance into practice. These include: 

View menopause resources


Into Practice

Improving care and survival rates for people with spinal cancer

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool is transforming care for spinal cancer patients – improving early detection rates and increasing average survival rates from 30 days to 7 months.

By following our spinal metastases and metastatic spinal cord compression guideline, the centre has developed a coordinated care pathway, ensuring timely diagnosis and treatment. 

Read spinal cancer case study


Get Involved

Comment on a consultation

Our current consultations include:

Consultation is a key part of our guidance development process. It is only by listening to your unique perspectives that we can create advice that is useful and useable for busy health and care staff, making a real difference to patient care.

See all open consultations

Join a committee

Health and care professionals from a wide range of backgrounds work with NICE to produce our recommendations. Your involvement helps to ensure our guidance is useable in practice. Vacancies currently include consultant radiologists and specialist nurses to join our committee looking at artificial intelligence technologies to aid the opportunistic detection of vertebral fragility fractures on radiographic images. Join us and have an active role in producing a guideline or quality standard.

See all committee vacancies

Observe a meeting

Our advisory committee meetings, technology appraisal appeal hearings and public board meetings are open to the public. Holding them in public supports our commitment to having processes in place that are rigorous, open, and transparent.

See all public meetings


Events

Free online event - navigating the future: AI at NICE

Join us on Tuesday 10 December, 2pm to 3pm, to hear how we’re preparing for the dynamic and rapidly advancing field of AI.  

We’ll discuss our approach to: 

  • evaluating AI-based technologies for NHS use  

  • AI-based methods to support evidence generation 

  • use of AI tools internally at NICE.

Reserve your free place


Announcements

How NICE makes decisions

Would you like to know more about how NICE evaluates medicines and medical technologies? Watch this short animation to learn how our independent committees work transparently and rigorously to make evidence-based decisions.

Learn how we make our decisions