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Readers and BGS members will have been aware of a number of clinical guidelines which have been developed over the past few years.

Guideline development in which the BGS, through its Clinical Practice Evaluation Committee (CPEC), has participated, include: Guidance for the use of anti-depressant medicine in adults undergoing recovery or rehabilitation following acquired brain injury; Guidelines for prevention, diagnosis and management of delirium in older people in hospital; and, soon to be published, Guidelines for Management of Pain in older people.

The preceding article reports on a new guideline being developed under the leadership of Simon Conroy of Nottingham, with the support of the BGS CPEC, to assist clinicians in their practice when an Advance Statement or Directive arises.

The BGS is particularly keen to support its membership and to encourage good practice by the development of robust, evidence-based clinical guidelines and to this end, with the permission of Simon Conroy, the CPEC commends to others wishing to lead on the development of guidelines, and wishing to secure BGS funding and support to do so, the proforma development plan (MS Word format) used by Simon when securing support for his initiative. In summary, the plan sets out:

• The aim of the guideline
• A list of previous related guidelines
• Methodology (including composition of the guideline committee, scoping exercise, optional literature search, review and grading of evidence, methods for obtaining formal consensus)
• Suggested format for the guidelines
• Review process
• Audit standards
• Dissemination
• Time planner
• Costings.

It is hoped that members/readers will find the proforma plan useful in planning their own project, but CPEC also invites suggestions for clinical guidelines from those unable to develop and steer the project themselves.

Ron MacWalter
Chairman, CPEC