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.