Grand designs ignored

Since its inception in April 1999, the U.K.'s National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued more than 250 recommendations as part of its task to advise the National Health Service on treatments and care. Part of the purpose has been to standardize treatment protocols nationwide in order to end so-called "postcode prescribing," under which patients in different regions receive different treatments. However, implementation has been poor, and NICE is making changes designed to ensure that