Your complete guide to using evidence
This toolkit will help you find, appraise and apply evidence for your programme, service change, innovation or pilot. It’s primarily for those involved in health and social care services, but the principles and approaches can be applied across sectors.
Developed by:
Identify
Access
Appraise
Apply
Share & manage
HOW EVIDENCE CAN HELP
What is evidence?
Whether you’re working in health and social care or are a service user, you may need to look for the latest evidence about a topic you are involved in. This might be to inform a decision, an evaluation or your choices as a patient.
So what does evidence mean in this context? It refers to a range of different sources of information. Research papers, guidelines, evaluations, population and surveillance data, policy, health needs assessments, activity data, feedback from stakeholders, patients, carers and the public are all sources of evidence.
Health Innovation West of England Evidence Repository
Find and safely share non-peer reviewed documents that are not published elsewhere – helping to promote a culture of shared learning and collaboration.
Using research guide from the Alliance for Useful Evidence
A guide to collecting, working with and presenting a strong evidence base using existing research. Produced by Nesta’s Innovation Skills team.
Case studies
Find inspiration for your own evidence search with these real life examples
Guidance
Guidance from a range of organisations for in-depth advice
Services and support
Knowledgeable organisations who may be able to help you
Training resources
Want to learn more? Our training resources are a good place to start
