Recently, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) amended the introduction that appears on all its guidelines to include the following statement: “When exercising their judgement, professionals are expected to take this guideline fully into account, alongside the individual needs, preferences and values of their patients or service users. The application of the recommendations in this guideline is not mandatory and the guideline does not override the responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or their carer or guardian”. This signals a shift in attitude that has been …