In association with

  • Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board
  • West of England Academic Health Science NetworkWest
  • National Institute for Health Research

Services & Support

Local

There are a number of organisations across the West of England that can help you. The following have a specific remit for supporting commissioners with evidence:

  • West of England Academic Health Science Networks (WEAHSN)  have a network of partners (including NHS care providers, universities, industry, NHS commissioners and Local Authorities) concerned with innovative, evidence-based practice to improve health and care quality across Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, Bath & North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.
  • The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration West (ARC West) is one of 13 pioneering research teams across the country. ARC West works across Bristol, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon, Bath & North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire. ARC West holds information on available training to support the use of evidence and evaluation, as well as providing training courses across the West of England.
  • Use the Health Library and Information Services Directory to find health library services and contacts in your area.
  • Bristol Health Partners– Health Integration Teams HITs are cross-organisational and interdisciplinary groups set up to harness strengths in research, innovation, education, healthcare services and prevention strategies to improve health outcomes.
  • BNSSG Research & Evidence Team support the CCG to make decisions about health care provision based on the most up to date and robust evidence. This helps with understanding which health care initiatives work well, which less so, and which are good value for money.
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National

Evidence Repository – West of England Academic Health Science Network (weahsn.net) – for NHS organisations, academic and public health institutions to share ‘grey literature’, such as evidence searches, evaluation and quality improvement reports. The repository allows organisations to share this information and reduced duplication of effort across our health systems. As grey literature is not peer review the repository has controlled access via Future NHS and is not available to the public.