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NICE: A Contemporary History of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
Author(s): Paul Atkinson (Author), Sally Sheard (Author)
- Publisher: Routledge
- Publication Date: 31 Mar. 2025
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 320 pages
- ISBN-10: 1032214929
- ISBN-13: 9781032214924
Book Description
It may seem as if the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has always been part of the UK’s health and social care landscape. But this fascinating book charts the evolution of NICE from its origins 25 years ago, as well as how this development illustrates many of the key themes effecting health care today.
In a period of rapid medical and technological advance, NICE has been both a gatekeeper to ensure that health care resources are spent where they are needed most, and a promoter of patient access to the best new technologies. Through a detailed history, the authors show how NICE’s remit grew from health care to public health to social care, advancing the use of evidence-based policy making and health economics as it did so. Playing a key role in ethical debates which often made the news, NICE also re-aligned the relationship between patients, politicians and the pharmaceutical industry.
Written by two of the leading scholars in the field, this fascinating history also situates NICE in an international context, where it is often seen as a model to follow. It will be key reading for students and researchers in the fields of health and social care and health policy, as well as professionals and interested general readers.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
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Review
"This book is a thoroughly researched history of NICE which tells its story in the words of many of those who were in the room where it happened. It is an indispensable account of an institutional innovation which largely achieved its objectives. The book will be of interest to readers who wish to understand the economics and politics of priority setting in health care in the real world."
―Professor Sir Chris Ham
"Any organisation that attracts admiration, criticism, world-wide interest and controversy deserves an authoritative historical record. Whilst British healthcare organisations all too often get abolished or reformed in their early years, this remarkable and fascinating book explores NICE’s evolution and survival, and honestly explores both its successes and the many challenges it has faced."
―Sir David Haslam, Chair of NICE, 2013–2019, Dorset, UK
"Atkinson and Sheard skilfully illuminate the history and evolution of NICE, one of the UK’s most important health regulatory institutions, interweaving oral testimony with archival research and policy theory. The book is a powerful account of the persistent challenges faced by modern health systems of balancing finite resources against new therapeutic possibilities and health gains for individuals and populations."
―Stephanie Snow, Professor of Health, History and Policy; Director: NHS at 70, University of Manchester, UK
"Few organisations have had as much impact on translating evidence-based medicine into practice as NICE has had in the UK. From the appraisal of drugs to the production of guidelines, the organisation has had to navigate one of the most challenging policy areas. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with those involved, this groundbreaking book will be essential reading for historians of recent medicine and health policy makers."
―Carsten Timmermann, Professor of History of Science, Technology & Medicine, University of Manchester
About the Author
Paul Atkinson is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems at the University of Liverpool. He is a historian with an interest in health policy and the use of evidence for policy.
Sally Sheard is Executive Dean of the Institute of Population Health, and Andrew Geddes and John Rankin Professor of Modern History, at the University of Liverpool. She is a health policy historian and analyst with an interest in the interface between expert advisers and policymakers.
