Short Abstract

Evaluations often end with recommendations about how interventions could be improved or scaled up, leaving organisations to put these recommendations into practice. We integrated evaluation and concepts from human centred design to move beyond recommendations and into action.

Description

In this abstract we will show how design methods and tools can be used to support organisations to go beyond the evaluation report to enacting recommendations for improvement. Evaluations often end with recommendations about how interventions could be improved or scaled up, leaving organisations to put these recommendations into practice. Enacting recommendations is a complex process, often requiring organisations to change established ways of working, re-design processes and build new relationships. When implementing new ways of working, previous studies have shown that evidence is not enough (McCarther et al., 2021, NICE, 2018) – capacity challenges, cost and professional resistance to new ways of working can all present barriers.

In 2023, Breast Cancer Now commissioned Clear Impact Consulting to review its Service Pledge, a flagship programme co-designed with patients and healthcare professionals to drive service improvements. The evaluation assessed the Pledge’s effectiveness and developed recommendations for its evolution. Moving beyond standard evaluation practices, we combined rigorous qualitative methods with service design principles to create a blueprint for a new delivery model. This collaborative approach addressed not just what needs to change but also how these changes can be implemented effectively. We included patient advocates, health care professionals and Breast Cancer Now staff throughout both the evaluation, options appraisal and service design process. In addition, we made use of participatory and democratic approaches in a series of workshops that built on the evaluation recommendations to ensure an inclusive approach to options appraisal and service re-design.

Our approach enabled the implementation of recommendations, going beyond the standard boundaries of evaluation recommendations. Through our collaborative process we gained buy-in from a range of stakeholders for new ways of working whilst ensuring a practical new way of working – cognisant of a variety of perspectives and deliverable within a feasible capacity and cost envelope.

This abstract directly relates to theme 3 of the 2026 UKES conference, showing a new way of sharing evaluation findings that supports understanding, influence and practical use. We will share how Clear Impact and Breast Cancer Now worked together to reach a range of audiences, provide clear framing for the evaluation and following improvements and make use of collective sensemaking, collaboration and concepts and tools from the discipline of service design to turn evidence into action.

Evaluators attending our session will learn about this new approach to making use of evaluation, and provide an opportunity to discuss the strengths, weaknesses and learning from implementing approaches that integrate the disciplines of evaluation and service design.

References:

McCarther et al., 2021. “Barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based guidelines in long-term care: a qualitative evidence synthesis”, Implementation Science 16 Accessed at: https://implementationscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13012-021-01140-0

NICE, 2018. Principles for putting evidence-based guidance into practice. Accessed at: https://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/what-we-do/Into-practice/Principles-for-putting-evidence-based-guidance-into-practice.pdf