NICE guidelines update
February 2017
Last year (February 2016) NICE published a national guideline about the assessment and management of motor neurone disease (MND) which aims to improve care for people living with MND from diagnosis to end of life.
It covers a number of areas of concern, making recommendations for practice based on the available evidence and recommendations for future research.
Some of the areas covered had been reviewed previously in a respiratory management guideline (motor neurone disease – the use of non-invasive ventilation in the management of motor neurone disease. NICE CG105 2010) which made recommendations about diagnosis and multi-disciplinary team working as well as respiratory assessment and management. These recommendations are included in this more comprehensive guideline (NG42) and where additional ones have been made this is indicated in the guideline (new for 2016).
Recommendations have been made for the first time in the following areas:
Cognitive assessment
Psychological and social care support
Planning for end of life
Managing symptoms including
muscle problems
saliva
equipment and adaptations
nutrition and feeding tubes
communication including ACC and cough effectiveness
These guidelines offer comprehensive evidence-based recommendations, providing patients and carers with the knowledge to make informed decisions about their care and placing a responsibility on providers (health care professionals and commissioners) to ensure equitable care and access to that care.