Rapid Service Evaluation Team (RSET)

BACKGROUND

Service or policy innovations to improve health and social care practice may be introduced rapidly, often without robust evidence. AIMS

To address this, RSET will work with patients, public, and evidence users to rapidly evaluate health and social care innovations to develop robust findings on: - Effectiveness - Cost & cost-effectiveness - Implementation in practice - Stakeholder experience (e.g. patients, carers, commissioners, health & social care professionals)

- Implications for inequalities - Future lessons for implementation. TEAM

We are an established team of researchers from University College London, University of Cambridge, and the Nuffield Trust. Working as the Rapid Service Evaluation Team (‘RSET’; 2018-23), we have a track-record of delivering 10 successful rapid evaluations with impact. Lessons from RSET 2018-23 strengthened our approach in RSET 2023-28, including:

- Assessing feasibility at an early stage - Having sufficient researcher and project management resource to deliver projects rapidly - Building trusting, collaborative relationships with patients, carers and evidence users from project inception. - Co-producing dissemination plans with evidence users to share rapid, high impact findings.

Our team includes two public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) leads (one an experienced patient representative). Together with our research team, they will co-produce evaluations with our expanded PPIE Panel.

Our team includes an extended Stakeholder Advisory Board (now co-chaired by a leading voice in user involvement), who will provide strategic advice. METHODS

DISCOVERY: Evaluations will include an initial 2-4 week process where we engage PPIE and evidence users to establish what is known about the topic and its feasibility for rapid evaluation. SCOPING: We will then work with evidence users and PPIE to develop a protocol (2 weeks-6 months).

BUILDING THE TEAM: Each evaluation will have a team that includes a dedicated lead, suitably skilled researchers, and a project manager. We will co-produce each evaluation with project-specific PPIE and evidence users.

DESIGN/METHODS: Evaluations will use mixed-method designs and draw on innovative methods (e.g. rapid ethnography, RAP sheets, Stanford Lightning Reports) to produce and share both formative and summative lessons. Methods will differ across evaluations, but may include quantitative methods (e.g. secondary analysis of national and local datasets, cross-sectional survey methods), health economic methods (e.g. cost consequences analysis, budget impact analyses), and qualitative methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis, rapid ethnography).

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (EDI): Studies will involve diverse participants and address potential inequalities associated with innovations. We will use a range of approaches (e.g. equalities impact assessment, translation of materials) to minimise potential unintended inequalities of the research.

DISSEMINATION/IMPACT: We will work with PPIE collaborators, evidence users, and Nuffield Trust Communications team to produce tailored dissemination plans for each project. To support local uptake of learning, we will share early findings with evidence users and wider stakeholders in tailored formats (e.g. slide sets). To achieve wider impact, we will publish findings using preprints, journal articles, final reports, accessible summaries, infographics, and short videos.