Service change assurance exists to give confidence to the NHS and public that proposals are well thought through, have taken on board a wide range of views and will deliver real benefits. At the heart of the NHS England assurance process are the ‘five tests for service change’ that are in the government’s mandate to NHS England, as updated in Next Steps on the Five Year Forward View. One of these five mandatory tests is that a clear clinical evidence base underpins service change proposals.

Working with Clinical Senates nationally, the West Midlands Clinical Senate commissioned the Strategy Unit to develop this evidence framework in order to help sponsoring organisations ensure that they are building the required evidence from the outset, minimising the risk of any delay.