NICE and general practice

Abstract

For ideas to make it in Greece 2500 years ago, they had to be good ones. Ideas were tested, through exhaustive debate, and if they succeeded they were celebrated. These ideas were so powerful that they still ring loudly through our society today – through our legal system, our theatre, our art, our architecture and arguably most effectively through science and medicine. It was into this tumult that Hippocrates was born and set down the principles of modern Western medicine. We know that Hippocrates gave the first recorded advice to physicians on the best way to treat patients. He understood the importance of observations and record-keeping to inform other physicians and improve care. These ideas are still fundamentally important in the practice of medicine. They are fundamental to the everyday work of GPs and they underpin the work of an organisation that, although only 16 years old, has its roots in the principles set down by Hippocrates: the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which – after a lifetime working as a GP – I am proud to chair.