Why do evaluations matter?
As a health and care system in NW London, we have to make choices every day about how best to serve and improve the health and wellbeing of our community – all while making the most of the limited resources we have. This means we want to spend those finite resources on the initiatives that have the greatest impact, not on ones that offer little or no benefit.
And the best way to help us determine this? By doing an evaluation of your initiative and its potential impact.
What is an evaluation?
An evaluation helps you to understand what works and doesn’t work about your initiative – and how to improve it. The aim is simple – to determine the merit of your proposal to see if it delivers the best value for the system and impact for the population. There are also different types of evaluations that can assess anything from a simple service to a complex research project.
A great evaluation will demonstrate just how impactful your initiative could be, showing it can genuinely deliver for the people it is supposed to help.
Get it right and you have the opportunity to introduce changes big or small that, in their own way, could prove transformative.
Why should you use the evaluation toolkit?
We want to demystify the whole evaluation process and help you create evaluations that meet the right standards. Our toolkit is suitable for NHS staff of all experience levels and needs. For instance:
- You wish to have a project funded by the NW London Integrated Care Board but want to know how to evaluate your project and what standards should be met.
- You might be entirely new to the concept of evaluation and want to learn how to conduct one within a guided format and source support from experts.
- You might simply be curious about how others evaluate their projects and be looking for real-life examples of successful evaluations.
- No matter who you are or what your motivations, the Evaluation Toolkit can help you.
Who we are
The resources in this toolkit were compiled by a coalition of organisations in NW London including:
- North West London Integrated Care Board
- Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
- Imperial College Health Partners
- North West London Applied Research Collaboration
- Imperial College London
- Brunel University
- 3ST (Third Sector Together) North West London
Using our combined expertise in research, innovation and evaluation, we have worked together to develop a standardised and accessible approach to evaluation in NW London, no matter your skill level.
Make it your own
While this guide offers a very structured approach for creating an evaluation, do bear in mind that it is not set in stone. You may need to make adjustments to fit different evaluation contexts and needs. Ask us for more details (and help) here.