Now in its second year, the GP Clinical Evidence Fellowship programme, a collaboration between the West of England AHSN and Health Education England (HEE), represents an ambitious and innovative attempt to highlight the importance of evidence and evaluation in clinical commissioning and support its integration into routine activity.
Over the last two years, 14 highly motivated GPs have been recruited to work in the seven clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the West of England.
This new report summarises findings from the recent evaluation of the programme, which sets out to define the value of the GP clinical evidence fellow role and areas for improvement for all stakeholders.
“…There was a sense from the managerial team that research and evidence was
something that other people did. So the fellow helped us to recognise that this is the way we do business rather than an additional extra…’’
While challenges are acknowledged, the report demonstrates that for CCG chairs and accountable officers who were interviewed, the fellows have added value by highlighting the importance of research and the use of evidence as core business, and in some cases have strengthened the relationship between CCGs and the public health teams within local authorities. The fellows are having a significant impact on practical decision-making, the culture of using evidence and in finding a new source of potential GP leaders of the future.
The report features a set of recommendations that focus on optimising the productivity of the existing fellows and a number of suggestions to influence any future cohorts.
Posted on July 11, 2016
