Ireland has strong foundations for evidence-informed health policy-making, but greater coordination, stronger systems and more formal links between researchers and policy-makers would ensure evidence is used more consistently across government, according to a report published by the Health Research Board (HRB).
The report, An Assessment of the Evidence Support System for Health Policy-Making in Ireland, describes the use of the Rapid Evidence Support System Assessment (RESSA) tool, developed by the Global Evidence Commission, to examine how evidence is requested, produced and used within the health policy system.
The assessment combined a review of policy documents with interviews with senior policy-makers, evidence producers, researchers and people working at the interface between research and policy such as knowledge brokers.
It found a clear commitment to evidence-informed policy-making across the Department of Health and its partner organisations.
Strategic initiatives, dedicated research supports and collaborations with agencies such as the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the HRB have created a strong platform for integrating evidence into decision-making.
The report also identifies a number of challenges including: growing demand for evidence support; difficulties accessing and linking health data; uneven skills across policy teams; and over-reliance on personal networks making it more difficult to ensure consistent use of evidence.
It found valuable work can be duplicated because evidence and analysis are not always easy to locate and reuse.
The report outlines a vision for a more connected and sustainable evidence-support system, where policy-makers can quickly access relevant expertise, evidence requests are managed transparently, and completed work is stored and shared for future use, setting out 11 practical recommendations to achieve this.
The authors conclude that Ireland has an opportunity to build on existing strengths and develop a more integrated, transparent and sustainable approach to evidence-informed decision-making that can respond effectively to both long-term policy priorities and urgent health challenges.
The work was led by researchers from Evidence Synthesis Ireland and Cochrane Ireland, supported by and Oversight Group drawing on expertise from the HRB, Department of Health, Global Evidence Commission and Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
For access to the full report, a plain language version and associated resources, see: RESSA | HRB | Health Research Board
