REVAL is a Rapid Service Evaluation Team funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research. We are commissioned to produce timely evaluations of innovation and development projects in health and care services, and generate evidence of national relevance.
The REVAL team are a multidisciplinary team of researchers from The University of Manchester with expertise in all aspects of evaluating health and social care.
Learn more about our approach to rapid evaluation.
What is Rapid Service Evaluation?
Innovation in the NHS means new ways of providing health and care to patients. Innovations can involve re-organising NHS services, bringing in new types of staff, or trying new treatments and technologies.
Innovation can benefit everyone by helping the NHS deliver the best possible care at the earliest available opportunity.
However, not all innovations are useful. Innovation without adequate evaluation can lead to misattribution of effects and, worse, the wider adoption of technologies, practices and ways of working without proven benefits over existing alternatives.
Rapid Service Evaluation offers real-time evaluation of the impact of innovations, asking important questions such as:
- Does this innovation improve the way we work?
- Does this innovation offer value for money compared with alternatives?
- Is this innovation acceptable to the people who use it?
- Which elements of the innovation are crucial to its success?
- Does this innovation improve access for those in most need?
Who we work with
To ensure our evaluations are accurate and relevant, we listen to and work with the people most affected by the innovations we are asked to evaluate.
This includes members of the public, health professionals, frontline workers, policymakers, and health and social care managers. Learn more about how we engage with members of the public and communities.
Independent oversight of our work
REVAL has independent oversight from our Stakeholder Advisory Group. This group offers support, advice and guidance to our programme of work.
Evaluations
SCD
Evaluation of pilot hyperacute units to deliver acute sickle cell care as part of a wider programme of quality improvement.
RSP
The new recovery support programme.
T1DE
Integrated diabetes and mental health services.
EMCoC
The enhanced midwifery continuity of carer model.
Our team
Meet our team members and find out more about their research interests.
Project team
Professor Jo Dumville
REVAL Co-Lead, Professor of Applied Health Research. Professor of Applied Health Research at the University of Manchester with particular focus on epidemiology, evidence-synthesis and evaluation. Research interests include: quantifying clinical problems and current treatment patterns through epidemiological work; undertaking intervention and prognosis systematic reviews, and conducting randomised controlled trials and cohort studies where further research is warranted
- View Jo’s research profile.
- Email: jo.dumville@manchester.ac.uk
- X (formerly Twitter): @dumvillej
Paul Wilson
REVAL Co-Lead, Senior Lecturer in Implementation Science.
Paul Wilson is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research, University of Manchester and Implementation Science research theme lead for the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester. He is also Co-Editor in Chief of the international journal Implementation Science. Paul’s research interests are focused on the evaluation of innovation and policy implementation and on the development of rapid methodologies to inform decision making and to increase the uptake of research based knowledge in health and care.
- Email: paul.wilson@manchester.ac.uk
- X (formerly Twitter): @pmw777
- View Paul’s research profile.
Stephanie Gillibrand
Research Fellow.
A mixed methods researcher with an interest in inequalities, spanning health, gender, income and broader socio-economic inequalities.
Holding an MA in Political Economy and a BA in Politics & Economics, she has interest in inter-disciplinary research and co-design/co-production research methodologies.
Prior to her roles in academia, worked as a consultant for an international development consultancy firm in London, with a focus on trade-related evaluations. She also managed a cross party All-Party Parliamentary Group in Westminster.
- Email: stephanie.gillibrand@manchester.ac.uk
- X (formerly Twitter): @Mons93Stephanie
Dr Elaine Harkness
Research Fellow, Division of Informatics, Imaging and Data Sciences.
Elaine joined the REVAL team in December 2022. She has a MSc and PhD in epidemiology.
Before joining REVAL she worked in the NIHR BRC Prevention and Early Detection theme on the Predicting Risk of Cancer At Screening (PROCAS) study, a large cohort study of women attending breast cancer screening.
Dr Maartje Kletter
Research Associate.
Maartje is a mixed methods researcher, with particular interest in data analysis, synthesis and research methodologies, including scoping reviews, systematic reviews and process evaluations.
Prior to coming to the University of Manchester she completed a PhD in health sciences at the University of Warwick.
During her PhD she co-designed, implemented and evaluated an intervention for community health workers in a rural community in Malawi. During the COVID-19 pandemic she worked as a researcher for the University of Edinburgh where she was involved in COVID-19 related policy and global health governance projects.
Lucie Mills
Research Associate.
Lucie’s background is in Biomedicine (MSc), specialising in Mental Health, particularly Dementia. Lucie’s research interests lie in Applied Public Health Research, in relation to the aetiology and treatment of Mental Illness, with a particular focus upon cross-disciplinary approaches and co-production with patients with Lived Experience.
Cristianne Bukhari
Programme Manager.
Since receiving an MSc from the London School of Tropical Medicine in 2016, Cristianne has worked in global and public health research at University College London (UCL) and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM).
At UCL she managed a multi-country NIHR programme focusing on mental health and violence in South Asia and at the LSTM she managed data collection and evaluation as a part of a Global Fund programme
Philippa Turner
Project Support Administrator.
Philippa joined REVAL in April 2020, after 7 years working as the centre administrator for the Health Organisation and Policy (HOPE) research group.
Research team
Professor Penny Bee
Professor of Applied Mental Health Research.Professor Peter Bower
Professor of Health Sciences.
Professor Dame Nicky Cullum
Professor of Nursing.Professor Evangelos Kontopantelis
Professor of Data Science & Health Services Research.
Dr Luke Munford
Senior Lecturer in Health Economics.
Professor Caroline Sanders
Professor of Medical Sociology.Dr Sabine van der Veer
Senior Lecturer in Health Informatics.Dr William Whittaker
Senior Lecturer in Health Economics.Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG)
The REVAL Stakeholder Advisory group provides oversight, advice, and support for the programme.
Professor Alison Richardson (Chair)
Clinical Professor of Cancer Nursing & End of Life Care
University of Southampton & University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
Director
NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Wessex
Professor Sheeren Hussein (Deputy Chair)
Professor of Health and Social Care Policy
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Professor Graham Martin
Director of Research
THIS.Institute
University of Cambridge
Professor Ben Barr
Professor in Applied Public Health Research
The University of Liverpool
Dr Laura Sheard
Senior Research Fellow
University of York
Paul Lynch
Deputy Director – Strategy & System Development Greater Manchester
Health and Social Care Partnership/Greater Manchester ICS
Dr Therese Lloyd
Principle Data Analyst
The Health Foundation
Richard Morley
Consumer Engagement Officer
Cochrane
Helen Hoyland
Programme Lead for our Enterprise and Innovation Team
Yorkshire and Humber AHSN
Dr Shona Haining
Head of Research & Evidence, for North of England Commissioning Support.
A care system support organisation.
Professor Niels Gutacker
Professor of Health Economics
University of York
Basma Issa
PPIE NIHR Research Support Service (RSS) Manager
Eric Lowndes
Public representative
Contact us
Please contact us if you have any questions about REVAL or our work.
Cristianne Bukhari, REVAL Programme Manager
Email: REVAL@manchester.ac.uk
Contact Us
+44 (0) 161 306 6000
