In March 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) awarded accreditation to the guidance development process used by NES’s Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP). In 2021, SDCEP successfully applied to have accreditation extended for a further five years. This will remain valid until 15 March 2026.
NICE accreditation signifies independent recognition of the rigorous, high quality process that SDCEP uses to produce guidance. Users of NICE accredited guidance can have high confidence in the quality of the information provided. SDCEP’s guidance development process is the only one with NICE accreditation that focuses on dental healthcare.
When applying for accreditation renewal, SDCEP successfully presented evidence to meet all 25 of the accreditation criteria. SDCEP’s close partnership with the Translation Research in a Dental Setting (TRiaDS)collaboration was crucial to the success of SDCEP’s original application for NICE accreditation and the renewal. It is through the work of TRiaDS that stakeholder views, current practice and potential barriers to implementation of guidance recommendations are identified and guidance implementation is evaluated. TRiaDS also informs, designs and tests theoretically guided interventions to promote guidance implementation. In this way, TRiaDS is adding to our understanding of professional behaviour change in healthcare – informing which interventions work and in what circumstances.
SDCEP Director Professor Jan Clarkson said, “We are delighted that our application to renew SDCEP’s NICE accreditation has been successful. The dental profession recognises the logo of NICE as an indicator of quality and rigor and we believe this directly improves the usefulness, use and impact of SDCEP’s work”
When accreditation was first awarded to SDCEP, Professor Martin Underwood, Chair of the NICE Accreditation Advisory Committee said, “I am delighted to congratulate the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme on this achievement. The process used to produce the Dental Clinical Guidance is systematic and transparent, with consideration of the strength of the evidence and benefits, risks and side effects.
“I would particularly like to commend the Scottish Dental Clinical Effectiveness Programme on its use of focus groups and surveys to gather patients’ views and preferences, which was seen as a particular strength of their process.”
In 2016, NICE accreditation was applied retrospectively to SDCEP’s Prevention and Management of Periodontal Diseases in Primary Care and Management of Dental Patients Prescribed Anticoagulants or Antiplatelet Drugs. Other NICE accredited SDCEP guidance are Oral Health Management of Patients at Risk of Medication-related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw, Conscious Sedation in Dentistry and Prevention and Management of Dental Caries in Children.
Further details of the NICE accreditation programme, are available at: www.nice.org.uk/accreditation.