GPs should be able to prescribe two digital therapies as treatment options for people with chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome, NICE has suggested.
In draft guidance published today, NICE recommended digital technologies for these conditions for the first time, based on evidence that they ‘could reduce the severity of symptoms’.
These new therapies can only be offered ‘after clinical assessment with a GP’, the guidance said.
A consultation is now open on the recommendations to allow use of Online Remote Behavioural Intervention for Tics (ORBIT) and Neupulse by NHS patients for the next three years.
ORBIT is an ‘online guided self-help intervention’ for children aged 9 to 17 years, and Neupulse – which is yet to receive regulatory approval – is a wearable wrist-worn device which delivers ‘low-intensity electricity pulses’ to reduce tic frequency and severity.
A recent NICE survey of people with chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome highlighted that ‘present treatment options are limited’, but that ‘acceptance of using digital technologies varied’ between respondents.
Evidence will be gathered over the next three years on the long-term clinical effectiveness of these technologies, after which NICE will assess if they ‘can be routinely adopted in the NHS’.
NICE said: ‘Each technology would only be offered after clinical assessment with a GP.
‘The first line treatment option will remain as psychoeducation, which combines the elements of cognitive-behaviour therapy and education, before one of the two technologies could be offered.’
Director of HealthTech Mark Chapman said the independent committee ‘heard that diagnosis, treatment and support’ for people with these conditions ‘can be variable depending on which part of the country they live in’.
‘Our committee’s recommendation of these two technologies could increase treatment options and could allow more convenient treatment for people where ever they live be that urban or rural given the inconsistency in access,’ he added.
It is estimated that there are more than 300,000 children and adults in the UK living with Tourette syndrome, and NICE cited evidence that less than 20% of children and young people with tic disorders currently have access to behavioural therapies.
