NICE launches ambitious strategy to provide quicker access to new treatments and innovations

NICE will speed up patients’ access to the latest and most effective treatments, and dynamic guideline recommendations will be put in the hands of healthcare professionals more quickly under plans unveiled by NICE in its 5-year strategy launched on Monday (19 April 2021).

NICE will transform key elements of its approach to ensure efficiency and speed while maintaining robust, trusted methods.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reaffirmed the need to place science and evidence at the heart of health and care decision making and improve outcomes for all patients across the healthcare system.

Ensuring the organisation is more proactive and engaged with the life science industry earlier in the innovation pathway will allow patients to access new treatments faster.

Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England medical director, said: “Since its creation the NHS has always adapted quickly in response to new innovations, from world first transplants to more recently new cancer drugs and treatments during the pandemic which are enabling patients to get the care they need from the comfort of their own home."

“At the heart of the NHS Long Term Plan is a commitment to rollout the latest treatments to patients as soon as they are approved and so we welcome NICE’s new strategy to speed up approvals of the latest and most effective treatments.”

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Source: NICE, 19 April 2021