First, was the development of practice guidelines; these
guidelines assessed evidence, considered the CSC’s priority
setting principles, and produced a consensus on when
services might be considered to be of benefit and to offer
good value for money for different service users with
particular conditions. This work continued through the notfor-
profit New Zealand Guidelines Group, with funding
provided by the government (and other organisations) [37].
Second, the CSC promoted the need for improved priority
setting and management processes for elective services
(see below). This work eventually flowed through the
Ministry of Health’s Electives Programme [38].
Having spun off its work on guidelines and elective
services, the CSC itself then focused on a series of projects
on improving health services [39], becoming known as the
National Health Committee (NHC) in 1998.
In 2011, the National Health Committee’s work was
again changed towards providing advice on value for
money and prioritisation (other than for pharmaceuticals
and devices, which remain the responsibility of PHARMAC)
[39]. The NHC works with 11 decision-making
criteria, including clinical safety and effectiveness, health
and independence gain, feasibility, cost-effectiveness, etc.
[39]. It remains too early to examine the work of the NHC
in depth at this point in time.