Policymakers in England will get a dedicated team of reviewers to check whether the evidence behind new health and social care policies is reliable before those policies are implemented. Decisions made by the Department of Health and its agencies can save lives or cause harm, yet individual research studies are often misleading due to bias or chance. This facility—a collaboration between the EPPI-Centre, the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, and the Policy Innovation Research Unit—will produce rigorous, up-to-date syntheses of existing research tailored to what policy teams actually need. The team will also develop better methods for identifying, summarising, and communicating evidence to non-specialist decision-makers. If successful, this work will quietly improve the infrastructure of national governance. Policies on everything from hospital funding to social care eligibility will rest on a firmer foundation of tested evidence, reducing the risk that well-intentioned reforms produce unintended harm. The facility does not generate new primary research; it ensures that the research already paid for by taxpayers is actually used wisely.
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Background The decisions of professionals and policymakers should be informed by rigorous, transparent and up to date evaluations because their actions can do harm as well as good. Systematic, up to date reviews of research are required, because individual research studies can be atypical and subject to bias and chance (4). The Policy Research Programme (PRP) s work with Department of Health (DH) policy customers supports England s strategic investment in research. Robust, timely and relevant evidence syntheses, in dialogue with policymakers and in consultation with local users, can inform the development and implementation of national policy. To support the PRP in its role to facilitate evidence-informed policymaking, a review facility is required that is both independent and methodologically innovative. Aims We propose a bespoke reviews service for the PRP that will: 1) facilitate the use of research evidence by undertaking rigorous reviews; and 2) continue to develop the theoretical, methodological and organizational foundations for identifying, synthesizing and communicating research evidence for policy (and practice). Research plan/Methods of investigation A collaboration between three leading organisations in the areas of evidence synthesis (including systematic reviews, scoping reviews and evidence mapping), policy and practice in health and social care, and research methodology is proposed: The EPPI-Centre, Institute of Education, London; the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) at the University of York; and the Policy Innovation Research Unit (PIRU) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Led by the EPPI-Centre, its objectives are to: Maintain an efficient and responsive review facility that delivers timely, rigorous, relevant and appropriately packaged research to policy customers Develop and maintain an interdisciplinary team which utilises and develops appropriate methodologies Engage with stakeholders and other users in order to ensure our reviews reflect a range of perspectives and are cognisant of the context of their intended application. Research team The team assembled is exceptionally strong in terms of its experience in: conducting reviews; developing methods; and engaging with policymakers and other stakeholders. The team has worked across health and social care, public health, policy analysis, evaluation, and public involvement and is involved in a range of networks spanning each domain. The PI will be responsible for the programme of work as a whole, including liaison with the Department and policy teams. A management team of named co-investigators will meet regularly to discuss progress and emerging issues. Experienced researchers will lead reviews and user engagement activities, with specialist input from members of other organisations when required. Information technology support and publications, marketing and communications (e.g. website) will be managed through the EPPI-Centre. Finances will be managed by Faculty and central professional support staff at the IoE. The project will be overseen by a steering group, composed of academics, representation from the DH and other organisations (e.g. NICE, PHE), which will meet annually. Ad hoc advisory groups for individual reviews will be formed when needed. Potential impact Research is only one piece of the evidence jigsaw that informs decisions, however we expect that national policy will be informed and impacted by the results of our work. Our key audience will be the policy customers , with whom we engage directly. Successful dissemination of outputs also requires focusing the research in terms of setting, audience, and timeliness. Our work in patient and public involvement, our steering group, and ad hoc advisory groups will all be valuable means of communication. In addition, all three collaborating organisations are well known in the Cochrane and Campbell Collaborations and other in
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