2021 Host organizations

All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC)

The All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) are a leading authority in therapeutics and toxicology, focused on creating a healthier; better informed Wales. AWTTC’s vision is to ensure patients have equitable and quick access to new medicines, supporting the Welsh Government and NHS Wales in enabling the Welsh population to receive the best outcomes from their medicines.

AWTTC is at the forefront of innovation in health technology; prescribing and medicines optimisation in Wales, with the multidisciplinary team made up of highly skilled experts including clinical pharmacologists, health economists, NHS clinicians, pharmacists, pharmacologists and scientists, with years of combined experience. The work carried out by AWTTC involves the delivery of a portfolio of services including:  

·         Medicines access (health technology appraisal, One Wales commissioning guidance)
·         Medicines optimisation (prescribing guidance, educational resources, best practice)
·         National Prescribing Indicators
·         Education, training and research (development of the prescribers of tomorrow)
·         Data analysis and monitoring
·         Patient Access Schemes
·         Horizon Scanning
·         Supporting innovation (precision medicines / genomics, value based medicine)
·         Pharmacovigilance (Yellow Card Centre)
·         Toxicological advice to clinicians and public health practitioners

Further work includes co-ordinating and supporting the Individual Patient Funding Request (IPFR) process and the One Wales Interim Commissioning Process. AWTTC also manage the Wales Patient Access Scheme, introduced to enable manufacturers of medicines to offer their medicine at an improved rate, thereby improving its cost-effectiveness.

AWTTC provide professional secretariat, pharmaceutical, clinical and health economic support to the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG). AWMSG was established in 2002 as a statutory advisory Welsh Parliament sponsored public body under the 1977 NHS Act, to provide advice on medicines management and prescribing to the Welsh Government in an effective, efficient and transparent manner. AWMSG brings together NHS clinicians, pharmacists, healthcare professionals, health economists, academics and patient advocates to develop timely, independent and authoritative advice on new medicines.

AWTTC’s work focuses on improving the availability of innovative, cost effective medicines for the population of Wales, whilst improving medication safety and supporting the delivery of value based healthcare. AWTTC are also a leading authority in health technology assessment providing a strategic approach across Wales to identify, appraise and adopt new technologies into health settings.

Health Improvement Scotland

Healthcare Improvement Scotland enables the people of Scotland to experience the best quality health and social care.  We carry out a range of statutory and non-statutory functions which are person-centred and evidence-based to drive improvement in, and provide assurance of, the delivery of high quality care. We aim to inspire and innovate, to lead and collaborate, and to robustly and clearly demonstrate our impact. Our key focuses are:

·         safety
·         older people
·         mental health
·         primary and community care
·         unscheduled / urgent care
·         access to care
·         children and young people.           

We believe that evidence is at the heart of improvement. Our Evidence Directorate is Scotland’s national authority for the development of evidence-based advice, guidance and intelligence for health and care professionals to provide safer, more effective care.

Working with experts from around the world, our directorate’s teams identify, develop and share evidence to improve health and social care and help resolve the issues and challenges facing NHSScotland. Their work reflects the experiences and opinions of the people of Scotland, and their advice lets them know about the quality of care they can expect to receive, no matter where they are in the country. Health technology assessment is central to this work.

Our Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) advises NHSScotland on the clinical and cost effectiveness of health and care technologies. SHTG seeks to ensure that technology assessments are aligned to the needs of health and care organisations and the people they serve, and in doing so contributes to the improved consideration of health and care technologies across Scotland. SHTG also provides evidence support and advice in relation to the early assessment and adoption of innovative technologies.

Our Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) is the national source of advice on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of all new medicines for NHSScotland. Their aim is to ensure that people in Scotland have timely access to medicines that provide most benefit based on best available evidence. SMC also carry out horizon scanning to ensure NHS boards are aware of new medicines expected to come to market over the next financial year, enabling more effective budget planning. 

Together, our resources support advancement in practice, sustainable service delivery and reducing health inequalities.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent organisation which provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care across the UK. NICE's role is to improve outcomes for people using the NHS and other public health and social care services.

We do this by:

  • Producing evidence-based recommendations and guidance for health, public health and social care practitioners.
  • Developing quality standards and performance metrics for those providing and commissioning health, public health and social care services.
  • Providing a range of information services for commissioners, practitioners and managers across health and social care.

The overall aim of NICE is to be the national point of reference for advice on safe, effective and cost-effective practice in health and social care. We provide guidance, advice, standards and indicators aligned to the needs of our users and the demands of the health and care system.

We use the best available evidence to develop recommendations to improve health and social care.

Our guidance takes many forms: NICE guidelines (clinical, social care, public health, medicines practice), technology appraisals, interventional procedures, medical technologies, diagnostics and highly specialised technologies.

We provide advice and support on putting NICE guidance and standards into practice through our implementation strategy, and we collate high quality guidance, research and information to help health and care professionals deliver the best care through NICE Evidence search.