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<p>Information about the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) methods, processes
and criteria for reviewing conditions are all publicly available on its website.</p><p>The
UK NSC Secretariat already has significant horizon scanning capabilities: it has connections
and talks to key clinicians, users, and stakeholder groups; it liaises with colleagues
at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence when a screening proposal
is mooted; it holds and attends regular meetings with international colleagues; and
it maintains an article alert service. It also receives many approaches from researchers
active in the screening and mass testing areas.</p><p>The four United Kingdom Chief
Medical Officers recently recommended expanding the UK NSC’s remit to increase its
capabilities and scope, and the independent body has been working over the past year
to implement these changes. Among the additional processes to ensure the UK NSC is
appraised of what is on the horizon is the blood spot task group to help it identify
practical and innovative approaches to the development and evaluation of evidence,
and its new research and methodology group, which is made up of academics with multiple
connections to research in screening and testing.</p><p>The UK NSC Secretariat is
currently recruiting additional staff, including a new horizon scanning lead, which
will further increase its ability to sift and assess evidence and make high quality
recommendations even within the constraints of limited evidence bases, such as exists
with rare diseases.</p>
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