The NHS CFHEP commissioned research from the University of Birmingham under an extension of the English DH Patient Safety Research Portfolio (PSRP). The Programme Director, Professor Richard Lilford was responsible to the Director of Service Implementation at NHS CFH and Professor Sally Davies at DH. He was supported by a Programme Executive Group (PEG) and Programme Advisory Group, both chaired by Professor Mike Pringle at the University of Nottingham.

Commissioning Process

Topic Selection / Prioritisation

New ideas/topics were identified by various methods and reassessed by the Programme Executive Group (PEG) to determine relative priority in relation to NHS CFH activities. Those that met these criteria were put to the Programme Advisory Group (PAG) for a discussion of specific research questions within the topic area.

Criteria for considering ideas by PEG:

• Value of results (especially patients)
• Phase in implementation cycle - researchability
• Use of results by NHS
• Its unique nature
• Insights for other Programmes
• Generic lessons learnt for academic / wider community

Once a specific evaluation question was defined, a vignette and/or a call for proposals was prepared, giving more detail about the research question relating to the topic and setting it in the context of other ongoing and published work. These were then circulated to individual PAG members with appropriate academic or pragmatic expertise for further refinement. The PEG made a final decision to take forward to a full call for proposals and advertisement. The PEG authorised the advert and call for proposals and NHS CFH Communication team were notified.