Diagnostics Assessment Programme process timeline
These are the main stages in developing diagnostic technologies guidance.
Timings are approximate. For a full description of the process see the:
Week 0
Stakeholders identified
Stakeholders include:
professional societies and royal colleges
national organisations representing patients and carers
health professionals
statutory organisations.
Stakeholders are consulted throughout the assessment process.
Draft scope prepared
We produce a scope for each assessment.
The scope defines the:
disease(s)
patients and technolog(ies) covered by the assessment
questions it aims to answer.
Week 8
Specialist Committee members recruited
The diagnostics advisory committee (DAC) is an independent advisory committee.
We recruit professional and lay specialist members with expert knowledge of the subject under consideration.
Week 9
Scoping workshop
The workshop aims to:
ensure the scope is appropriately defined, including verification or modification of the care pathway
identify important evidence and any other issues relevant to the evaluation.
The scope is revised after the workshop.
Week 12
Scope published.
Assessment report prepared
An independent academic centre reviews the evidence and prepares an assessment report.
Week 36
Assessment report received
Registered stakeholders can comment on the report. They have 10 working days to submit comments.
Week 42
Diagnostics advisory committee (DAC) meeting
The committee considers the assessment report and formulates draft recommendations. The relevant meeting papers are sent to members 1 week prior to the meeting.
The committee discussions are held in public.
Week 46
Consultation on draft recommendations opens
DAC makes its provisional recommendations in the consultation document.
Registered stakeholders have 4 weeks to comment.
We publish the document on our website. Health professionals and members of the public can also comment.
Week 51
Diagnostics advisory committee
The committee considers considers comments received on the consultation document and makes its final recommendations.
Week 56
Resolution
Once our Guidance Executive has approved the final guidance, it is open to resolution. This is a final quality assurance step before the guidance is published.
Anyone who commented on the consultation can request we make corrections if they believe:
there has been a breach of process
there are factual errors in the guidance
Stakeholders have 3 weeks to submit comments.
You can find out more about resolution in chapter 8 of the programme manual.
Week 63
Guidance publishes
If there are no resolution requests, the final guidance is published.
If we receive resolution requests, we suspend publishing the guidance while we investigate them.