Sir Andrew Dillon has held a number of senior management positions in the NHS since 1975, including Chief Executive of St George's Healthcare NHS Trust. He joined the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) as its founding Chief Executive in 1999. Originally set up as a special health authority, to reduce variation in the availability and quality of NHS treatments and care, NICE was subsequently established in primary legislation in 2013. NICE provides national guidance and advice to improve health and social care officially in England but, by agreements, NICE provides certain products and services to the other UK countries also. NICE also has an international programme that demonstrates a track record of successful international collaborations in health technology assessment and clinical guideline development. NICE has worked with fellow policy-makers and academics from over 60 countries.