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<p>The Department’s Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances (ACBS) has made an
assessment of the benefits of the use of prebiotics and probiotics.</p><p>NHS England
and NHS Improvement, in partnership with NHS Clinical Commissioners, carried out a
public consultation between December 2017 and March 2018 on reducing prescribing of
over the counter medicines for minor, short-term health concerns. Probiotics were
included in the consultation proposals as items of limited clinical effectiveness
which are of high cost to the National Health Service.</p><p>Following the consultation,
in March 2018, NHS England published guidance for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)
on conditions for which over the counter items should not routinely be prescribed
in primary care. This guidance included a recommendation advising CCGs that probiotics
should not be routinely prescribed in primary care given the limited evidence of clinical
effectiveness. The clinical working group advised that there is currently insufficient
clinical evidence to support prescribing of probiotics within the NHS for the treatment
or prevention of diarrhoea of any cause.</p>
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