Carrick,
Co Donegal
Your article “Clinical guidelines consultation launched” (IMN, 9/1/2012) was quite worrying and deserves greater debate.
It seems that the Department of Health has a committee called the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee, which is seeking submission of clinical guidelines for inclusion in a national suite of guidelines, which once endorsed will supersede any other guidelines in this area, and evidence of adherence will be required for licensing of healthcare facilities.
The motivation for development of guidelines will vary widely and only to consider those whose developers submit them is a clearly avoidable bias.
Are only those guidelines which are submitted to be considered, and those developed by large international well respected groups such as SIGN and NICE to be ignored?
Particularly with a closing date this month, it is an open invitation to those with well-disguised financial motives.
Surely with something so important that adherence is required for licensing, it should not be left to Guideline Development Groups to volunteer, but for the Committee to actively seek out the best guidelines, which are widely published and available for assessment for local suitability.
Clinical guidelines are after all GUIDELINES, not absolute prescriptions and many patients who have multiple pathologies do not fit nicely into them all the time, which is why clinical experience is as valuable as it is.
I would be very worried if my practice were delicensed because I was using an intensively researched international guideline rather than a hastily cobbled together local one.
Surely the Department hasn’t got money to waste on large committees of expensive clinical decision makers reinventing the wheel?
