In universities, NHS and public health organisations, a range of staff perform evidence searches to inform decision making. The documents they create are intended for internal use, often referred to as ‘grey literature’. However, it is likely that similar organisations are performing the same evidence search. The same applies to reports on quality improvement (QI) projects and survey design. This results in unnecessary duplication of effort across our health system, wasting staff time and money.
What’s the purpose of the Evidence Repository?
The Evidence Repository is a portal for safely sharing non-peer reviewed documents that are not published elsewhere to promote a culture of shared learning and collaboration.
In January 2022, 72% of users said they would recommend the repository to a colleague.
We listened to user feedback and, as of March 2022, have further improved the look and functionality of the repository.
Membership to the Evidence Repository is restricted to ensure the documents uploaded can be safely shared, whilst ensuring non-peer reviewed and/or non-externally evaluated content is not available to a broader audience.
Watch our Evidence Repository explainer video:
What’s on the Evidence Repository?
Documents that can be shared include all types of evidence reviews, evaluations, insight reports, surveys and quality improvement (QI) project reports. We set up the evidence repository in May 2020 in partnership with local Sustainability Transformation Partnerships (STPs), University of the West of England and hospital libraries.
Where would you look to find evidence to inform diabetes referral pathways? What about the effectiveness of fracture liaison services, health champions, or interventions to support pregnant women to stop smoking? All this and much more can be found in the Evidence Repository.
Who can access the Evidence Repository? How can it be used?
If you work for a university, the NHS or in public health, you are eligible to join the Evidence Repository to view and share evidence and contribute to efficient working by reducing duplication.
Please also consider sharing evidence-based reports and reviews, surveys and QI projects that you and your organisation create – those that were successful and those that offer learning points to others embarking on a similar journey.
All members now have the ability to share grey literature in the Evidence Repository. During the pilot phase of the workspace this functionality was limited to each organisation’s admin, as the platform is growing in size (as of March 2022) we’ve given upload access to all users.
As more documents are shared, the Evidence Repository will help to reduce duplication and speed up the implementation of evidence-based services and QI projects across our system.
How do I join?
The Evidence Repository is hosted as a workspace on the FutureNHS Collaboration Platform.
Join the Evidence Repository here and follow the instructions to request membership.
If you would like to find out more, or get support to share your reports or have difficulty joining the group workspace, please get in touch via: healthinnowest.academy@nhs.net
