[Advice on guidelines: planning for guideline development in the Netherlands].

There is a lack of shared responsibility and national steering in guideline development. The 'Regieraad' (advisory board on guideline development, established by the Dutch Health Secretary) hopes to facilitate the coordination of guideline development. Therefore, the board developed a shortlist of the 100 most important diseases and 25 important care processes, based on several accepted criteria. An inventory of already available guidelines and other instruments for quality improvement was also made. The board thinks that guidelines should become more uniform to improve accessibility and usefulness for daily practice. The board encourages the availability of guidelines for the most important topics. With the information available a long-term policy for guideline development and maintenance can be determined.