The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is a decision-maker. Where NICE reaches a positive conclusion about the use of a particular health technology (such as a pharmaceutical product) in the National Health Service (NHS), there is a legal requirement for the service to make it available if a patient's physician considers it clinically appropriate [1]. Although this legal obligation does not apply to technologies recommended in NICE'S clinical guidelines, there is still a reasonable expectation by the Care Quality Commission for NHS healthcare professionals to use NICE'S clinical guidelines as the basis, where appropriate,for their clinical practice.
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