National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

With the aligned pathway and integrated scientific advice services fully open for business since April 2026, we wanted to share an update on how things are progressing, including the latest figures on uptake, examples of closer working in action, and customer feedback. Since October 2025, 90 topics have been scheduled to the aligned pathway, spanning 49 therapeutic areas.

Listen About this episode In this episode, we explore the research taking place behind the scenes at NICE and how it helps us prepare for the future of healthcare. From new medicines and digital health technologies to artificial intelligence and innovative ways of using health data, the Research team works with partners across the UK and around the world to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing health and care today.

You’ve developed an innovative medicine, device, diagnostic or digital technology. Your evidence is strong. But strong evidence alone does not guarantee routine NHS patient access. Where does your product sit in the treatment pathway? How might potential uncertainties in your evidence base be viewed by a NICE committee? What does the NHS need in order to adopt your product into routine care? These connected questions often sit between product development, health technology assessment and NHS adoption.

The draft guideline introduces new recommendations to help healthcare professionals recognise OCD and BDD more consistently, particularly in people whose symptoms may be mistaken for other conditions or go unnoticed for years because of stigma, shame or limited information. The independent guideline committee said earlier identification could help more people access the support they need before their symptoms become severe.

NICE recently updated its guideline on type 2 diabetes in adults. Several existing technology appraisals (TAs) for diabetes medicines had fallen out of step with the new recommendations. To address this, NICE tested a new process as part of its whole lifecycle approach programme.

Listen About this episode We have published guidance recommending routine NHS access to specialist devices that keep donated livers and lungs functioning outside the body, potentially unlocking hundreds of organs for transplant each year. We hear from cardiothoracic surgeon Marius Berman, Clinical Director of the Transplant Programme at Royal Papworth Hospital. And by Monica Walsh, who received a liver transplant almost 10 years ago and now mentors others waiting for transplants.

NICE’s final draft guidance recommends Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan made by Daiichi Sankyo and Astra Zeneca) for adults with HER2-low advanced or metastatic breast cancer whose disease has progressed following treatment. Previously, NICE’s independent committee had been unable to recommend it at the price proposed by the companies. Enhertu for this group of people remained the only breast cancer drug that NICE had been unable to recommend since 2018.

It will especially benefit people who need help to inject their insulin as it will mean fewer visits from carers or healthcare workers, and less disruption to everyday life. This could particularly benefit some frailer people, and those with sight loss, limited hand movement, learning disabilities or difficulty following the steps involved.

Many express concerns about the impact that AI has on trust, fairness and transparency. As an evidence-based guidance producer for more than 25 years, the moment is right for NICE to listen to the public’s views on AI. That is the purpose of NICE Listens – our deliberative public engagement programme, designed to explore the moral, social and ethical questions that sit behind complex decisions.

Every day, practitioners make decisions about patient care based on the evidence and guidance available to them, but that information can come from different evidence sources meaning that the care that follows is not always consistent. Modern Service Frameworks (MSFs) aim to change that, by bringing the best available evidence together in one place for each priority area, using the evidence base as a backdrop to support service implementation.