The
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (
NICE) is an executive
non-departmental public body of the
Department of Health in the
United Kingdom. It serves both the
English NHS and the
Welsh NHS. It was set up as the
National Institute for Clinical Excellence in 1999, and on 1 April 2005 joined with the
Health Development Agency to become the new
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (still abbreviated as NICE). Following the
Health and Social Care Act 2012, NICE was renamed the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on 1 April 2013 reflecting its new responsibilities for social care, and changed from a
special health authority to an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body (ENDPB).