NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS): new topics and updates

 Please see the following news release about recent topics in Clinical Knowledge Summaries:

NICE Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS) topics are aimed at healthcare professionals working in primary and first contact care in the UK. The 370 topics cover 1000 clinical presentations or patient scenarios and are free to access.

The following CKS topics have been created or updated over the past months:

September

• All Cancer recognition and referral topics – these topics have been updated to bring them into line with the update of NICE guideline Suspected cancer: recognition and referral.
• Cervical screening and Cervical cancer and HPV - these topics have been updated in line with the Public Health England (PHE) guidance Cervical screening: programme and colposcopy management to incorporate details of primary HPV screening.
• Addison’s disease - information that people with Addison's disease taking an equivalent dose of 20 mg prednisolone or more per day should receive the pneumococcal vaccination has been added to this topic.
• GORD in children - the wording in the managing suspected GORD section has been clarified.

 
November

• Gastroenteritis - The topic has undergone major restructuring, with several subsections merged to improve clarity and navigation. The sections on diagnosis and management have been updated in line with Public Health England (PHE) and other current literature. The Prescribing information section has been updated with currently recommended drugs to prescribe in primary care for acute gastroenteritis owing to specific causes.
• Neck Lump - The topic has undergone minor restructuring. Recommendations have been updated in line with current literature.
• Acute childhood limp, Bronchiectasis, Hand foot and mouth disease and Multiple sclerosis- Literature searches were conducted for these topics. No major changes to the recommendations have been made.
• Minor changes were made to Anticoagulation – oral, Irritable bowel syndrome and Lipid modification – CVD prevention.
   

December

• Support for adult carers is a new CKS topic. The topic is largely based on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline Supporting adult carers NICE, 2020.
• Menopause has undergone minor restructuring to improve clarity and navigation. Additional options for non-hormonal therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for the management of vasomotor symptoms, additional information for women with hypothyroidism and a new node on referral have been added to the topic
• Macular degeneration – age-related has been updated as a result of a literature search that was conducted to identify evidence-based guidelines, UK policy, systematic reviews, and key randomized controlled trials published since the last revision of this topic.