Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has adequate levels of patient and patient group participation in its review of its methods and processes.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has had a specific workstream focussing on patient involvement aspects of both its methods and processes. NICE held a workshop with 22 patient groups, used the findings to develop an in-depth questionnaire and received responses from 52 patient groups. The findings and proposals of this are informing the other workstreams.

Further key aspects include having three patient group representatives on the Methods Review Working Group; having patient representatives on task and finish groups undertaking the detailed methods work; convening a Stakeholder Insight Group to inform process developments, which has numerous patient group representatives; and outreach talks at various key patient group meetings.