Warner disputes funding complaint

National Institute for Clinical Excellence guidelines are not being well implemented because too many primary care trusts are failing to plan and budget correctly, junior health minister Lord Warner told the NICE conference.

He rejected claims - some heard earlier in the day from delegates - that implementation was being hampered by a lack of government money: 'Having looked at the levels of resources that are being given by the centre, it is very hard to see much justification for the argument that the money is not there to implement them. It may have been a good argument in the past; it seems less so now.

'One key to embedding NICE guidelines is to look more carefully at the way in which the NHS plans and budgets within its threeyear funding notification, ensuring health bodies are fully aware of the impact of guidance over each financial period. It is not clear to me that this is done well in all PCTs. We know what is coming - NICE makes no secret of its work;

people can't say they do not know.'

Lord Warner reserved some criticism for NICE itself for the volume and presentation of guidance. 'The number of things to be done may seem overwhelming.'

He suggested that guidance should be better segmented for relevance to different clinicians, adding: 'The presence of a NICE co-ordinator, even when parttime, makes a big difference.'

He also emphasised the role of the new Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection in reviewing the implementation of guidance, despite shadow chair Professor Sir Ian Kennedy apparently playing down its involvement earlier in the conference.

Lord Warner said: 'The issue of public trust is a key issue [for CHAI]. CHAI has a duty to take into account the secretary of state's standards, and NICE guidance will be an integral part of those when they are published in January.'