Clinical guidelines are core to standardising and improving quality, supporting the translation of research advances into clinical practice, and ensuring clinicians can access the latest expert consensus on diagnostics, treatment and care.
The BSI Clinical Immunology Professional Network (BSI-CIPN) Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group brings together BSI-CIPN members and others working in clinical immunology to understand areas of need for new or improved guidance, and to create patient-centred, evidence-based guidelines to improve the standard and consistency of clinical care.
The group, which reports into the main BSI-CIPN Steering Group, has been running since April 2024, and is quickly approaching its one-year anniversary. How time has flown! While much of the first year has involved getting the group set up and defining its processes, we have also managed to input on a number of guidelines in development, as well as determining the topics for the first ever BSI-CIPN Clinical Guidelines.
The membership of the BSI-CIPN Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group is:
- Professor Alex Richter (Chair) – Professor of Clinical Immunology, University of Birmingham
- Dr Adrian Shields – Associate Professor of Clinical Immunology, University of Birmingham
- Dr Alexandros Grammatikos – Consultant Clinical Immunologist, North Bristol NHS Trust
- Dr Ashleigh Rainey, Clinical Scientist – Immunology, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Dr David Lowe – Consultant Clinical Immunologist, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
- Fan Lek Cheng – Specialist Paediatric Pharmacist (Immunology, Rheumatology and Dermatology), Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust
- Dr Fiona Shackley – Consultant Paediatric Immunologist, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
- Dr Hadeil Morsi – Clinical Immunology Specialist Registrar, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
The group aims to assess existing clinical guidelines relevant to clinical immunology, identify where the BSI-CIPN can work with partners to endorse guidelines, monitor gaps to understand where new guidance is needed and collaborate with other organisations to develop new guidelines where necessary. It also works to input into NICE appraisals and guidance, and collaborates with the Medical Royal Colleges, fellow societies and a number of other key stakeholders, both at the national and international level.
Many of our clinical members will have been at the BSI-CIPN Conference last year in Birmingham, and may have attended the day two morning session during which the Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group canvassed the clinical immunology community on areas of need for new guidelines. We had a number of brilliant ideas come through, which the group has collated and is keeping in mind to explore within its future work.
During the session, two of the Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group members, Dr David Lowe (Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust) and Dr Adrian Shields (University of Birmingham) presented the case for clinical guidelines to be developed in two important areas, Good’s syndrome and Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS). The community supported Good’s syndrome guidelines to be prioritised for development first (with work on ALPS to be considered for future). The group is looking to start the development of the Good’s syndrome guidelines this year and is currently bringing together an expert working group to get started.
Another workstream within the remit of the Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group is around work that has been underway over the last year to bring together an expert working group on the MMR vaccine and immune-vulnerable groups. The project is being led by Alex Richter, Professor of Clinical Immunology and Director of the Clinical Immunology Service at the University of Birmingham.
We have so far held two roundtables to gain expert perspectives in exploring and reviewing existing guidance and literature on testing for measles immunity, and the use of the MMR vaccine in immune-vulnerable cohorts, with particular focus on the balance of risk in administering the vaccine in areas where measles is circulating. The roundtable meetings have helped to improve understanding of the current knowledge on the benefits and risk of administration of the MMR vaccine to immune-vulnerable groups in light of the current measles outbreaks, and these discussions have paved the way for work to establish research priorities and explore clinical good practice. We hope this work will improve understanding of this complex area, and ultimately support patient care and outcomes.
If you would like to learn more about the work of the BSI-CIPN Clinical Guidelines Special Interest Group, or are interested in getting involved, please contact cipn@immunology.org.