Title: Greater Manchester Rapid Service Evaluation Team: REVAL-GM.
Funder: Department of Health and Social Care

Abstract: What is the programme of work being proposed? Innovation in the NHS means new ways of providing health and care to patients. Innovations can involve re-organising NHS services, bringing in new types of staff, or trying new treatments or technologies. Innovation can benefit everyone by helping the NHS deliver the best possible care at the earliest available opportunity. Ideally this gives patients and staff a better experience, makes care safer, and makes better use of NHS budgets. However, not all innovations are useful. New ways of doing things may not work as well as expected. Innovations may be too expensive, some changes may not be acceptable to the people they are intended for or they may make care more difficult to access. To make sure we know which innovations are useful and which are not we need to find out, or evaluate, the impact of any innovation by asking important questions such as: • Does this innovation improve the way we work? • Does this innovation offer value for money compared with alternatives? • Is this innovation acceptable to the people who use it? • Which elements of the innovation are crucial to its success? • Does this innovation improve access for those in most need? The most useful and relevant evaluations (studies to find out answers to these questions) are done by listening to, and working with, people the innovations will affect such as members of the public, health professionals, health and social care service managers and policymakers. Why are we applying to be a Rapid Service Evaluation team? We are a multidisciplinary team recognised for our evaluations of health and social care innovation. Our knowledge and skills in different study designs means that we are flexible and can answer the evaluation questions in the best way, as quickly as possible. Our team is based in Greater Manchester but embedded in national evaluation activities. We are good at identifying and working with the people most relevant for an evaluation. Public involvement in our evaluations is drawn from a strong existing network of individuals and organisations. We are experienced in telling people about evaluation findings in interesting, accessible and understandable ways. Our record to date shows that we can do what is required to rapid timelines and a high standard. What is our proposed approach? We will use a systematic, collaborative approach based on careful planning and clear communication. We will: 1. Identify innovations that are important to the NHS, by working closely with the funder (National Institute of Health Research), with patients and with NHS services to make sure we evaluate what matters most. 2. Evaluate these innovations using the appropriate methods. This might involve talking to patients and staff, collecting new data and using data the NHS already collects. 3. Share our findings as they emerge in ways that make sure they have impact and are useful to health service providers and patients. The pace of evaluation is crucial; rapid evaluation could speed up wider use of things that work and/or reduce the risk of using innovation that is not beneficial. We will use a systematic approach to ensure we are asking the right evaluation questions, that evaluations are grounded in what is already known and that the right people are involved. We will refine our approach as we learn new things.

Lay abstract: Background Identifying and applying innovative approaches to delivering health and care services is of paramount importance to the long-term sustainability of the NHS. However, innovation without adequate evaluation can lead to the misattribution of effects and adoption of new technologies, roles, practices and ways of working without proven benefits. Evaluation is critical in informing innovation within the NHS, helping patients and professionals gain access to the most effective and acceptable care. Evaluation also protects services and patients from innovations not yet ready to realise their potential or that widen existing health inequalities. However, evaluation needs to be conducted quickly and efficiently if it is to provide timely information for decisionmakers. Design and Methods We are a multidisciplinary team from The University of Manchester with expertise in all aspects of evaluating health and social care. We will take an interdisciplinary, pragmatic approach to applied health research and evaluation. We will strike a balance between rigour and efficiency and provide timely evidence that is used by decisionmakers and policymakers. Co-production is integral to our approach. We have a track record of working closely with commissioners, providers of services and with patients and the public to make sure research is relevant to all of them. Working within this overarching model of co-production our approach will entail: 1. Question specification and prioritisation 2. Establishing what is already known or not known about a given innovation 3. Theory guided evaluation using a range of health services research methodologies Our focus will be on selecting the most rigorous, feasible and rapid approach that we can use for the questions specified. Often no single type of evidence on its own is sufficient to make judgements on whether an innovation is worth pursuing further: each evaluation project could include several questions that drive data collection and synthesis. We will draw on a range of methodologies and expect most projects to have a ‘mixed methods’ approach. Patient and public involvement We will ensure that we actively listen to and involve citizens in all aspects of our work. We will do this by collaborating widely, including with Greater Manchester Patient and Community Involvement and Engagement (PCIE) forums we have worked with previously on multiple projects and with our existing networks of national PCIE groups. These forums have broad based representation from people with varied socio-economic and cultural backgrounds including under-represented communities. Members bring a range of skills, knowledge, voluntary and lived experience and will ensure that a diverse public voice informs the research that we do and the methods we use. Dissemination Our dissemination and knowledge mobilisation strategy is based around two core strategies (1) timeliness and (2) accessibility. Effective dissemination and knowledge mobilisation relies on timely access to good quality and relevant evidence, and we recognise the need to sustain relationships between researchers and the ultimate users of the research. We will actively engage with key stakeholders at all stages of the evaluation process to ensure evaluation relevance, efficient use of NIHR resources, and to maximise the impact and use of findings as they emerge.

Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: GENERIC HEALTH RELEVANCE