Evidence-based policy-making in the NHS: exploring the interface between research and the commissioning process

A qualitative study aimed to identify factors which facilitate or impede evidence-based policy-making at a local level in the NHS using a literature review and case studies of social research projects which were initiated by NHS health authority managers or general practitioner (GP) fundholders in one region of the NHS.

Abstract

These issues have important implications for the strategic development of R&D as well as for individual project application. Moving beyond the rhetoric of evidence-based policy-making is more likely if both policy-makers and researchers openly acknowledge this complexity and give due concern to the issues outlined.