Trial By Error: NICE’s Consideration of the Lightning Process
28 MAY 2018
By David Tuller, DrPH
Earlier this month, in advance of a stakeholder meeting, the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence released a
draft scoping report. The document outlined the issues slated to be addressed by the committee selected to develop the new guidance for the illness NICE now calls ME/CFS. (The 2007 guidance referred to it as CFS/ME; the name switch represents, at least to me, a potentially positive albeit modest sign of shifting attitudes at NICE.)
According to
follow-up reports from the Friday meeting, the discussion appeared to go reasonably well. A formal consultation period from June 21st to July 19th will provide an opportunity for people to submit further comments before the scoping report is finalized.
Smart stakeholders will hopefully be able to hold NICE to account on this matter. When I skimmed the draft scoping document, I wasn’t surprised to see graded exercise therapy and cognitive behavior therapy listed among the non-pharmaceutical interventions up for discussion. But the presence of the Lightning Process in the list caught my eye.
