Patient Safety Conference
National Clinical Effectiveness Committee
Dr Kathleen Mac Lellan
7 th November 2014

The extent to which specific clinical interventions do what they are intended to do.
• The Right care
• In the Right place
• At the Right time
• With the Right information
• Within available resources

National Clinical Effectiveness Committee (NCEC)
Patient Safety First Initiative
Ministerial Committee – key stakeholders
ToR - Prioritisation and Quality Assurance of National Clinical Guidelines and Audit
Vision
Suite
National Clinical
Guidelines
Suite
National Clinical Audit
Standards
Clinical Practice Guidance

“Systematically developed statements, based on a thorough evaluation of the evidence, to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances, across the entire clinical spectrum”
• Provide guidance and standards for improving the safety, quality and cost effectiveness of care across healthcare services in Ireland
• Implementation provides for a model of care that can reduce variability and improve quality of patient decisions
• Implementation supports services in providing consistent evidence-based healthcare

Endorsement of National Clinical Guidelines
STEP 1
Clinical Guideline
Development Group
Submission of Clinical
Guideline to the NCEC
Prioritisation Criteria
• Burden of clinical topic
•
Evidence analysis
•
Economic impact
•
Variability in practice
•
Potential for addressing health Issues
•
Clinical guideline
Implementation
STEP 2
NCEC
Clinical Guideline
Screening Process
STEP 3
NCEC
STEP 4
NCEC
Prioritisation of
Clinical Guideline
Quality assurance of Clinical Guideline
Feedback to Guideline
Development Groups
STEP 5
NCEC
Decision to recommend
Clinical Guideline for endorsement
Minister for Health
Endorsement of National Clinical Guideline
Quality Assurance Criteria
• Feasibility
• Scope and purpose
• Rigour of development
• Stakeholder involvement
• Applicability/implementability
• Clarity of presentation
• Editorial independence
Dissemination, communication, implementation and audit of National Clinical Guideline

National Clinical Guidelines

Supporting Documents

Supporting Management Tools

National Clinical Guidelines –
Implementation
• Ministerial endorsement – health policy
• HSE governance - Accountability Frameworks, HSE Service
Plan, National KPIs (implementation and impact).
• Regulation
• HIQA - National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare
• Professional regulators
• Future licensing requirements
• Alignment with Clinical Indemnity Scheme
• Health insurers
• Informed patients

NCEC Symposium 26 th Nov 2014
Commissioned National Clinical Guidelines
• Sepsis Management
• Chair Dr V Hamilton
• Chair NSSC Dr F Fitzpatrick
• Maternity Early Warning System
• Chair Prof M Turner
• Paediatric Early Warning System
• Chair Dr J Fitzsimons
• Clinical Handover
• Chair Ms E Croke (Maternity services)
• Chair Ms E Croke and Dr C Henry (Acute hospitals)

National
Clinical
Guidelines
Clinical
Practice
Guidance
Asthma
Palliative care - cancer pain; constipation
Cancer care – breast, prostate , gestational trophoblastic disease
Establish
Clinical Audit
Function
Build Capacity
(programme of education; social media)
National and
International
Partnerships
2015

Where will future guidelines come from?
Planning for 2015+
• Users – based on need e.g. clinical programmes
• Driven by overall health priorities
NCEC Prioritisation Considerations
Patient Safety Issue
Burden of disease
Evidence analysis
Economic impact
Variability in practice
Potential for health improvement
Clinical guideline implementation
Weighting of Criteria
•
Everything cannot be accomplished at once
•
Uncertainty about the best use of resources
•
Specific improvement goals are sought

www.health.gov.ie/patient-safety/ncec
@NCECIreland