NHS Evidence is a government funded resource of information, research, evidence and best practice guidance for health, social care and public health.
It is aimed at those working in health and social care, and is designed to help students, specialists, clinicians, managers, commissioners and health providers make better and quicker evidence based decisions. The service, which is provided by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, was set up in April 2009 as part of Lord Darzi's strategy for the future of the NHS, High Quality Care for All, which identified a clear need for better access to information in order for NHS staff to deliver the highest quality care. Further to a Freedom of Information request it was revealed that in 2009/10 it ran on a budget of £19,433,000 raising to £24,438,000 in 2010/11.
NHS Evidence allows users to search over 100 health and social care databases simultaneously, including The Cochrane Library, British National Formulary and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. It comprises an increasing number of 'specialist collections', covering a diversity of topics, from clinical areas such as 'Cancer' or 'Eyes and Vision', to issues relating to 'cross-cutting' topics relating to specific user groups, such as 'ethnicity' with information about the particular healthcare needs of minority ethnic groups, and evidence about inequalities in health attributable to cultural, religious or 'racial' differences. Other 'crosscutting' topics include 'later life' and child health, while more specialist collections relate to differing professional or management areas of health care, such as commissioning, screening, and complementary medicines. All of these specialist collections are led by specialists in their fields, and apply carefully agreed quality assurance controls before accessioning resources for general use.