Medical practitioner guidelines (FOI)

​Request

Are Jersey medical practitioners ie GPs, Registrars and Consultants and so on, required to follow National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines?

If so to what extent? If not what guidelines do / should they follow.

How do they keep up with the latest available information and advancements in medical practice?

Response

Advice contained within NICE guidance does not override or replace the individual responsibility of health professionals to make appropriate decisions in the circumstances of their individual patients, in consultation with the patient and / or guardian or carer. This would, for example, include situations where individual patients have other conditions or complications that need to be taken into account in determining whether the NICE guidance is fully appropriate in their case. Clinical guidelines frequently make reference to specific legislation and guidance that do not apply in Jersey.

Individual doctors have to comply with General Medical Council (GMC) guidance which includes the need for an annual appraisal and revalidation every five years. As part of that process doctors have to demonstrate how they have kept up to date, undertaken quality improvement and learning activity, responded to complaints and significant events, and in addition to have a personal development plan based on the outcomes of those inputs.