Assessing Benefits from Department of Health and National Health Service Research & Development

Public services in the UK are increasingly expected to account for their outputs and performance. This article describes a retrospective evaluation of the benefits from the research and development funded by a regional office of the NHS Executive. The methods adopted enabled the various elements of the region's research and development portfolio to be examined and provided a basis for the development of a plan for regular monitoring. The proposals for implementation are now also feeding into a debate as to how health services research and development might best be monitored nationally in a way that is compatible with the norms and practices of research in other contexts.