Way forward
Evidence-based guidelines are a powerful resource for driving best
practice and equitable healthcare. They are not perfect, reflecting
limitations in the evidence on which they are based, and the challenge
of reconciling polarised views at the peer review and stakeholder
consultation stages. Timely revisions ensure that they improve as
knowledge advances. Dissemination and visibility is enhanced by
publishing them in journals. Guideline authors are not remunerated and
participate for the benefit of patients and health professionals. I am
proud to have worked with the RCOG on guideline development, and it
would take more than a few hostile letters or a vexatious complaint to
deter me. However, there are many who would be deterred, and we need to
ensure that this valuable role is safe guarded from external influences
that attempt to undermine authors when pursuing a particular agenda. It
is particularly disappointing when health professionals, who should know
better, participate in these behaviours.