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A new non-hormonal option for treating menopausal hot flushes and night sweats can soon be used in the NHS following its recommendation in final draft guidance.
Fezolinetant, a once-daily tablet, is intended for women who cannot use, do not tolerate, or prefer not to take hormone replacement therapy. It offers an additional choice for managing symptoms that can significantly impact daily life.
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A new type of tablet designed to prevent migraine is transforming lives across England. In 2025, GPs prescribed atogepant or rimegepant to 22,800 people, more than 3 times the number in 2024, following NICE approval.
These medicines provide a valuable option for people whose earlier treatments have not been effective, improving access to appropriate support in primary care settings.
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The UK Health Security Agency is continuing to investigate an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent. NICE’s Clinical Knowledge Summary on bacterial meningitis and meningococcal disease is a practical resource for primary care practitioners. It’s designed to help you recognise symptoms early and refer patients urgently when meningitis is suspected.
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NICE Talks - Backing the healthtech that changes lives
When the right technology reaches the right patient, lives change. We hear from people whose lives have been transformed by NICE-recommended healthtech, and our chief executive, Jonathan Benger, outlines our plans to support faster, fairer healthtech access.
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Clinical knowledge summaries
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New topics and updates include:
- Giant cell arteritis. An assessment section has been added to the diagnosis chapter. The section on prescribing information has been removed and a link provided to the CKS topic on corticosteroids – oral instead.
- Neuropathic pain - drug treatment. Additional information and clarification have been added relating to risks of dependence and prescribing off-label.
- Sepsis. Revised the UK Sepsis Trust’s ‘Sepsis 6’ bundle in line with the Sepsis Trust Manual 7th edition.
Our clinical knowledge summaries (CKS) provide primary care practitioners with a readily accessible summary of the evidence base and best practice guidance for over 370 topics. These cover over 1,000 clinical presentations or patient scenarios, free to access in the UK.
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NHS England publishes postnatal care toolkit
NHS England has published a new toolkit to help integrated care boards and provider organisations improve postnatal care. It sets out evidence-based actions, informed by our postnatal care guideline, to deliver joined-up, high-quality care in the critical weeks after birth. The toolkit highlights the central role primary care plays in postnatal care delivery and shows how GP practices and community services can work collaboratively across organisational boundaries to achieve the standards set out in the NICE guideline.
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The role of nurses in approaching discussions about weight and lifestyle
Are your patients getting the weight management conversations they need?
Sensitive, patient-centred communication can make all the difference in obesity management. Nurses in primary care are uniquely placed to lead the way.
In this Nursing in Practice article, advanced nurse practitioner and senior obesity specialist nurse Wendie Smith, explores how creating space for patients to voice their concerns is key to managing obesity. She explains how our guideline on overweight and obesity management can be applied in everyday practice.
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Driving biosimilar adoption through collaboration
Danielle Lees and John Spoors reveal how NICE is working with national partners to increase the uptake of biosimilars across the NHS. This has the potential to generate significant savings while maintaining patient outcomes and quality of care.
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Help shape how NICE supports you - 'A day in the life'
What does your working day look like? Whether you’re searching for the latest guidance, evaluating new evidence, or making decisions about a patient’s care, we want to hear about it.
NICE is looking for people to share how they find and use information in their day-to-day work. Your experiences could directly shape how we make our guidance more useful and accessible for everyone working across health and social care.
Take part in a 45-to-60-minute online interview and your voice could make a real difference.
Register your interest by Friday 17 April.
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Commissioning and implementing healthtech
We want to understand what it’s really like to bring healthtech innovations into practice, from digital tools and diagnostics to medical devices. We’d also like to know what support NICE could offer to make healthtech adoption easier for you and the people you work with.
You can take part through a 45-to-60-minute online interview or a 10-to-15 minute survey.
Register your interest by Friday 17 April.
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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 usable for busy primary care staff, making a real difference to patient care.
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Join a committee
We’re looking for primary care professionals, including a GP and pharmacist, to join our:
Primary care staff from a wide range of backgrounds work with NICE to produce our recommendations. Your involvement helps to ensure our guidance is usable in practice. Join us and have an active role in producing a guideline or quality standard.
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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.
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Supporting patients who refuse hypertension medication
When a patient pushes back on their prescribed treatment, how should you respond? In this Nursing in Practice article, Callum Metcalfe O'Shea explores how to manage a 54-year-old male patient in this situation. The article offers practical advice for primary care nurses on navigating these conversations. Drawing on our hypertension in adults: diagnosis and management guideline, Callum also highlights our patient decision aid, a valuable tool to help patients take an active role in managing their condition.
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Government publishes response to consultation on NICE cost-effectiveness threshold
The government has published its response to its consultation on proposed changes to NICE's cost-effectiveness threshold, confirming that it will proceed with planned regulatory changes. These will give ministers the ability to set the cost-effectiveness threshold that NICE uses in developing technology appraisal and highly specialised technology guidance. This change is deliberately narrow in scope. Ministers will only be able to direct NICE on elements of our methods that are a matter for an elected government to decide on, ensuring our independence is protected. NICE will remain fully responsible for setting all other methods and processes independently.
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QOF gets a clinical refresh for 2026 to 2027
Changes to the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) are coming into effect next year, bringing the scheme more closely in line with our guidance.
Changes include:
- a new diabetes indicator requiring delivery of all 8 NICE-recommended care processes
- 2 new obesity related indicators to support referrals into structured weight management programmes and medicines optimisation
- updated heart failure indicators to reflect the NICE-recommended '4 pillars' of treatment.
In total, the changes introduce 18 new QOF points worth £25 million. They are designed to enhance clinical outcomes and ensure indicators reflect current evidence and best practice.
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