Following pressure from mental health stakeholders (including BACP) and cross-party politicians, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today (14 May) announced that it will hold an ‘exceptional’ second consultation on its draft guideline on depression in adults.
This unusual second consultation phase has been agreed amidst significant controversy over the methodology used by NICE to create the draft guideline. This second consultation aims to give stakeholders an opportunity to see how their comments to the first consultation have been dealt with and to offer an additional opportunity to feedback on the updated draft guideline.
The consultation will run for four weeks from Tuesday 15 May until 5pm on Tuesday 12 June. We will again be submitting a robust response to ensure the public have access to the most effective, evidence based psychological therapies for depression.
Our response to the first consultation focused on NICE’s privileging of randomised control trial evidence, their failure to include large standardised routine outcome datasets and their assumptions of the cost-effectiveness of the recommended interventions. You can read our full response to the first consultation and more about our campaign in Protect and promote counselling.