Spotlight on tobacco guidance: NICE public health guidance update.

The updated NICE guidelines on tobacco recommend cost-effective and evidence-based interventions to prevent smoking initiation and promote smoking cessation across the life course. E-cigarettes are a cost-effective adjunct to support smoking cessation in adults, but their long-term effects are yet to be fully understood. Concerted efforts from healthcare and public health providers are required to reach underserved groups and hence address stark and longstanding inequalities in smoking prevalence and associated ill health in England.

Spotlight on community engagement: NICE resources in the context of COVID-19-NICE public health guidance update.

This article focuses on how the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) quality standard on 'Community engagement: improving health and wellbeing' (QS148) may be used to support local areas with pandemic recovery planning. This article sets the standard in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, explores some of its content and highlights additional NICE resources to support its use across the health and care system.

NICE public health guidance update.

This article highlights recent guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It highlights the organization's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and then provides a spotlight on workplace health in the context of long-term sickness absence and capability to work. It discusses some of the actions that need to be taken by a range of stakeholders in order to implement NICE guidance in this area and aid employees in ensuring good workplace health. The NICE guidance on workplace health, discussed in this article, predates the current pandemic. Comment is made specifically on fitness for work assessments, where the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a range of unique clinical challenges.

Spotlight on COVID-19 rapid guidance: NICE's experience of producing rapid guidelines during the pandemic.

This article highlights recent guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). It provides an overview of the COVID-19 rapid guidance produced since March 2020, along with an account of how the organization adapted during the pandemic, developing resources to guide practice with the limited time and evidence available. The growing COVID-19 evidence base is also considered, with reference to international initiatives supporting production of the best possible information to guide the global pandemic response. WHAT'S NEW?: Since March 2020, the NICE has developed 21 rapid guidelines with NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) and a cross-speciality clinical group, supported by specialist societies and royal colleges. The 21 guidelines can be summarized into three groups-managing symptoms and complications, managing conditions that increase risk, and providing services during the pandemic. The rapid guidelines are part of a suite of rapid resources, including innovative technology briefings, shared learning examples and rapid evidence summaries, such as that for Vitamin D in COVID-19 (ES28).

The effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture to improve healthcare performance.

BACKGROUND: Organisational culture is an anthropological metaphor used to inform research and consultancy and to explain organisational environments. Great emphasis has been placed during the last years on the need to change organisational culture in order to pursue effective improvement of healthcare performance. However, the precise nature of organisational culture in healthcare policy often remains underspecified and the desirability and feasibility of strategies to be adopted has been called into question. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance.To examine the effectiveness of these strategies according to different patterns of organisational culture. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the following electronic databases for primary studies: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Business and Management, EThOS, Index to Theses, Intute, HMIC, SIGLE, and Scopus until October 2009. The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) was searched for related reviews. We also searched the reference lists of all papers and relevant reviews identified, and we contacted experts in the field for advice on further potential studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We considered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or well designed quasi-experimental studies, controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs) and interrupted time series analyses (ITS) meeting the quality criteria used by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group (EPOC). Studies should be set in any type of healthcare organisation in which strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance were applied. Our main outcomes were objective measures of professional performance and patient outcome. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: At least two review authors independently applied the criteria for inclusion and exclusion criteria to scan titles and abstracts and then to screen the full reports of selected citations. At each stage results were compared and discrepancies solved through discussion. MAIN RESULTS: The search strategy yielded 4239 records. After the full text assessment, no studies met the quality criteria used by the EPOC Group and evaluated the effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture to improve healthcare performance. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: It is not possible to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture because we found no studies that fulfilled the methodological criteria for this review. Research efforts should focus on strengthening the evidence about the effectiveness of methods to change organisational culture to improve health care performance.

NICE guidance and mental health: supporting change.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to give those in the psychology and psychotherapy fields an overview of the work the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is doing to encourage change in response to its guidance. METHODS: A summary is provided of the work NICE undertakes to motivate others to use guidance and the practical support that is made available. Findings of selected studies are highlighted that demonstrate some of the successes and challenges relating to the uptake of NICE guidance. RESULTS: Key aspects of NICE work include liaison with partners at a national level to ensure work programmes are aligned and provision of practical support, such as the commissioning guide on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). A range of studies show that there have been successes in increasing the provision of psychological therapies but there are still variations which present challenges. CONCLUSIONS: NICE provides a substantial programme of support for the implementation of guidance which impacts on psychologists and psychotherapists. Successes in the uptake of guidance can be demonstrated but it is acknowledged that this is challenging area. NICE is keen to provide the most effective support possible for implementation so continually evaluates and seeks feedback on its implementation programme.

The effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture to improve healthcare performance: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Organisational culture is an anthropological metaphor used to inform research and consultancy and to explain organisational environments. In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the need to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance. However, the precise function of organisational culture in healthcare policy often remains underspecified and the desirability and feasibility of strategies to be adopted have been called into question. The objective of this review was to determine the effectiveness of strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance. METHODS: We searched the following electronic databases: The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Business and Management, EThOS, Index to Theses, Intute, HMIC, SIGLE, and Scopus until October 2009. The Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness (DARE) was searched for related reviews. We also searched the reference lists of all papers and relevant reviews identified, and we contacted experts in the field for advice on further potential studies. We considered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or well designed quasi-experimental studies (controlled clinical trials (CCTs), controlled before and after studies (CBAs), and interrupted time series (ITS) analyses). Studies could be set in any type of healthcare organisation in which strategies to change organisational culture in order to improve healthcare performance were applied. Our main outcomes were objective measures of professional performance and patient outcome. RESULTS: The search strategy yielded 4,239 records. After the full text assessment, two CBA studies were included in the review. They both assessed the impact of interventions aimed at changing organisational culture, but one evaluated the impact on work-related and personal outcomes while the other measured clinical outcomes. Both were at high risk of bias. Both reported positive results. CONCLUSIONS: Current available evidence does not identify any effective, generalisable strategies to change organisational culture. Healthcare organisations considering implementing interventions aimed at changing culture should seriously consider conducting an evaluation (using a robust design, e.g., ITS) to strengthen the evidence about this topic.