Cost-effective public health guidance: asking questions from the decision-maker's viewpoint

In February 2004, in his assessment of the long-term financial viability of the NHS, Derek Wanless recommended the use of 'a consistent framework, such as the methodology developed by NICE, to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of interventions and initiatives across health care and public health'. One year later public health was added to NICE's remit and the new National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) was established, with amended statutory instruments to permit consideration of broader public sector costs when developing cost-effective guidance for public health. With the principle of 'a consistent framework' put forward by Wanless as the starting point, this paper provides an insight into the most challenging aspects of applying the principles of cost-effectiveness analysis in the public health context from the policymaker's perspective. It reflects on the long-term consequences of taking on responsibility for producing public health guidance on the Institute's overall approach to guidance development and describes the tension between striving for consistency and cross-evaluation comparability while ensuring that the methodological tools used are fit for the purpose of developing public health guidance.