Local NHS policies on B12 def

[lesbud1]

Can anyone guide me on how to find my local policy on b12 deficiency? Can I find it online?

[deniseinmilden]

They should all follow the BNF, according to NICE guidelines but I know what you mean and someone here has posted information on this before.

I'm sorry but I don't know who... maybe Hidden

[Gambit62 Administrator]

lesbud, the best thing is probably to ask your GP what guidelines they are following andask them if they are aware of the NICE and BCSH guidelines. One common problem with local guidelines is that they don't necessarily get updated when national guidelines are updated and in some areas the guidelines are still based on really old national guidelimes (pre 2014 changes)

[Midnight_Voice]

In Gloucestershire, we can readily find the 2005 guidelines online, but what we don’t see there is that these are no longer in force here. (And nor do some doctors, it seems).

The trouble with stuff on the web is that it sticks around unless someone withdraws it or updates it; so even if you find it, you can’t be sure it’s still valid beyond the latest date actually shown on it.

Anyway, there shouldn’t be any local policies on stuff that has clear centrally published guidelines, like B12; that’s what the N in NHS is for.

Or should be, anyway.

[Freudian slip story: my wife just announced she was going for a confrontation with our doctor. She meant consultation, of course; but as we all know, she wasn’t entirely wrong, alas.]

[helvella in reply to Midnight_Voice]

All guidelines should have a stated time period on them. For example, "Will be reviewed by 1st August 0220" - and when that date comes around, they should automatically lapse.

One particular set of guidelines I am familiar with were published in about 2010 and had a review date of about three years. They were, of course, never reviewed. Yet even formal documents treated them as current.

Further, ALL such documents need to have a path to enable mistakes to be corrected. Without that, they should never be accepted as guidelines, anywhere or anywhen.