The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has published a scoping review of advances in the development and implementation of clinical practice guidance to support the work of the National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC).

This review was carried out as part of HIQA’s HRB-CICER function which independently reviews evidence and provides scientific support to the development of national clinical guidelines and to the NCEC.

In 2014, the NCEC was requested by the Minister for Health to develop Standards for Clinical Practice Guidance, which were published in 2015. HIQA’s scoping review aims to support the NCEC as it reviews and updates these standards to ensure they reflect innovations and current best practice.

Clinical practice guidance includes recommendations, processes or statements for healthcare professions which help guide care for patients with specific conditions. It aims to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare received by the public, and should be based on the best available evidence and practice.

Michelle O’Neill, HIQA’s Deputy Director of Health Technology Assessment, said: “Our review of international guidance development shows that the NCEC’s current standards for clinical practice guidance remain relevant and appropriate.”

“However, we did identify innovations which could improve the standards, such as further emphasis on health equity in clinical practice guidance development. While health equity has always been a consideration, including it throughout all phases of guidance development is now encouraged, especially in relation to populations such as older adults, patients with multiple chronic conditions, and marginalised groups.”

HIQA also identified three tools to assess the quality and or methodological robustness of clinical practice guidance and four other unique key innovations. Examples include new approaches to managing the constantly evolving evidence base and the use of artificial intelligence in searching for and identifying newly published evidence.

Ms O’Neill continued: “We have shared the innovations in the development and implementation of clinical practice guidance identified in the review with the NCEC. We hope that these innovations can enhance the development and use of clinical practice guidance by healthcare professionals in Ireland.”

ENDS

Further information:
Marty Whelan, Head of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement 085 805 5202 / mwhelan@hiqa.ie

Notes to Editor:

• HIQA has today published the following document:
  • Advances in the development of clinical practice guidance: A scoping review
• The Health Research Board (HRB) funds the Collaboration in Ireland for Clinical Effectiveness Reviews (CICER), which is hosted by HIQA. HIQA was awarded research funding spanning the period from 2017 to 2024 to produce the evidence to support the development of National Clinical Guidelines and National Clinical Audits. The HRB-CICER Team comprises a dedicated multidisciplinary research team supported by HIQA staff, the Discipline of Public Health and Primary Care in the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), as well as national and international clinical and methodological experts.
• The review aimed to address three research questions:
  • What are the core components of the various types of clinical practice guidance?
  • What quality assurance or appraisal criteria are available to examine the robustness of the methodological process utilised to develop the various types of clinical practice guidance?
  • What are the key innovations since 2015 in the development and implementation of clinical practice guidance?
• HIQA reviewed 12 handbooks from 11 organisations and 55 peer-reviewed articles when completing this review.