NICE accredits RPS process for developing professional standards and guidance

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the health technology assessment body that provides guidance on which drugs should be used on the NHS in England, has accredited the process used by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) to develop its professional standards and guidance.

The NICE badge will be applied retrospectively to standards and guidance developed by the RPS using the accredited process. 

The accreditation, which is valid for five years, now covers the ‘RPS Competency Framework for all Prescribers’, which aims to “help healthcare professionals to be safe, effective prescribers”.

The framework was originally developed by the National Prescribing Centre and published by NICE in 2012, and then updated by the RPS in 2015–2016. It is now maintained and published by the RPS on behalf of, and in collaboration with, all prescribing professions in the UK.

Standards and guidance still being developed will also be accredited, as will revisions or updates to existing documents.

Commenting on the NICE accreditation, Alex MacKinnon, interim chief executive of the RPS, says: “We are delighted that we have achieved NICE accreditation of our processes for developing professional standards and guidance.

“It involves a rigorous application process and so achieving recognition is a substantial achievement. Our processes align to those of other royal colleges and this demonstrates that the RPS are developing standards and guidance to the highest standards.”