Evidence searches for business cases

Guidance for this type of search.

Notes

The suggested time to allocate to this type of search is 4-8 hours.

Please read:

  • "All evidence searches" (see "Quick links") before proceeding
  • and the "Supplement" section for examples of this type of search

Planning

Confirm the aims of the business case with the requester and ask:

  • if they know of any existing information that can set precedent
  • have any similar business cases been made elsewhere?
  • is this connected with any government initiative or guidance?

Get a clear understanding of the topic from the requester and know exactly what they want the business case to focus on. For instance, examples of cost saving, number needed to treat, time saved, etc.

Ask the requester to give you more information on the background of the search:

  • what are the current practices in place?
  • is there evidence for these practices which could be compared and contrasted?

Familiarise yourself with any standards your organisation may have for presenting business cases:

  • is there a specific template to follow or information that must be included?
  • can you make your evidence search report fit-in with these?

Consider the date of the information you find so that it is applicable to the current NHS.

Execution

Choose the resources that will give the best returns for your search: 

For general guidance and commentary

Use one or more of these resources:

  • NHS England
  • NHS Providers
  • The Health Foundation
  • NICE Guidance
  • The King’s Fund
  • The Nuffield Trust
For standards and statistics

Use one or more of these resources:

  • NHS Digital
  • GOV.UK
  • Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT)
  • FutureNHS
For case studies

Use one or more of these resources:

  • NHS England
  • NHS Providers
  • The Health Foundation
  • The Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
For innovation

Use one or more of these resources:

  • The Health Innovation Network, formerly The Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN)
  • The Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff
  • Innovation Collaborative - Digital Health FutureNHS workspace
  • Digital Health
For specific technologies

Use one or more of these resources:

  • Search the product or manufacturer websites
  • Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA)
  • NICE Technology Appraisal Guidance
  • The Health Innovation Network
  • FutureNHS
  • Digital Health

Clinical rigour

For clinical rigour, you may need to focus on the highest levels of evidence:

  • Cochrane Library
  • National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) Health Technology Assessments (HTAs)
  • International HTA database (INAHTA)

Search healthcare management and business databases, depending on availability:

  • Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) is available for free via NHS OpenAthens from Ovid
  • Health Business Elite (HBE) and Business Source Corporate are available from EBSCOhost with a paid subscription

Search subject appropriate bibliographic databases and preprint servers.

Search filters for costs and economics

EBSCOhost

EBSCOhost features “costs” and “economics” limits that can be applied to Medline and CINAHL searches if cost-effectiveness is being considered by your requester.

Other search filters

There are also a range of search filters available from the Economic Evaluations section of The InterTASC Information Specialists' Sub-Group Search Filter Resource (ISSG) or the McMaster University Health Information Resource Unit (HIRU) filters for cost or economics.

The different filters mention what they are specific to, e.g., costs, economic evaluations or economic models. It is worth having a look to see which search filter would be most suitable for your search or you may want to adapt a search filter by removing or adding terms.

 

Finding other NHS organisations' policies and publications

Perform an advanced Google search for the topic with “NHS” in your terms, and/or your country specified as UK.

and/or

Limit by domain

Limit the search to sites ending with “…nhs.uk” URLs using the limits site:nhs.ukor  inurl:nhs.

Limit by file type

Limit with doctype:doc or doctype:pdf limits to pick up policy documents and guidelines from around the country.

See "Advanced Google" in "Quick links" within for more information. Search within the NHS England website too – it includes NHS Improvement’s content since their merger.

Consider also searching NHS Digital, UK Data Service, GOV.UK and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as local sources.

 

See advanced Google for more information.

A mailing list enquiry may also elicit documents from librarians in Trusts.

Search using Google or other search engines for key terms or a product or manufacturer name, or include terms such as:

  • service models
  • service standards
  • service specifications
  • business case
  • case study

Consider directing your requester to the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare for help demonstrating how their business case can benefit “the triple bottom line” of “people, planet, profit”.

Results

In your report, group your results into categories and highlight the most useful ones to make it more user-friendly. o If time allows, synthesise results into an executive summary for the head of your report that highlights the key points and any recommendations. Reference the information from within your report that you have used for this.