See eg NICE in England who evaluate different things and then make recommendations. Some of those are only guidance and NHS Trusts (the organisations that prov

See eg NICE in England who evaluate different things and then make recommendations. Some of those are only guidance and NHS Trusts (the organisations that provide care) and CCGs (the organisations that take money from government and buy care from provider organisations) only have to consider it. But some of them are mandatory and CCGs and trusts must follow it, unless they have very good reason not to. Here's their guidance for "Arthroscopic knee washout, with or without debridement, for the treatment of osteoarthritis Interventional procedures guidance [IPG230] Published date: 22 August 2007" https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg230 https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg230 And if people really want something that's been recommended against by NICE they can go private, I guess.