The development and delivery of clinically-effective services is a priority for the NHS and high on the agenda of clinicians and managers alike, whether in the private or public sector, in hospital or in the community. The challenges in achieving an effective clinical service are enormous, but there is much potential for success. Patients are becoming more discerning, have increasingly higher expectations and are now better informed than ever before about clinical treatment, care and therapy. An increasing number of those responsible for delivering health care are basing clinical practice on the expanding body of clinical evidence and research findings. This paper addresses some of the key components contributing to improvements in health care and describes recent developments on how this is being achieved. The paper concludes that evidence-based health care is becoming more achievable through a constantly improving knowledge base, improved technology and better ways of shared learning which aims to provide the most cost-effective health service, and one which is responsive to patients' needs and their perceptions of an effective health service.
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