Will this product work in practice

The main issue is if the performance claims made in theory will translate to practical benefits for your organisation.

The NICE Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health Technologies sets out the evidence standards you should expect to see as evidence for a product’s effectiveness. These standards are stratified according to a product’s function and potential risk. In the case of medical devices, clinical evaluation reports (CERs) are the primary source of clinical evidence to support the claims of a manufacturer.

During procurement, you could ask the manufacturer about the product’s effectiveness in other health and care organisations, and for contact details of people in those organisations involved in the product’s implementation.

You should think about questions affecting project delivery such as:

• how ‘plug-in’ ready is the product and whether your organisation will need to make significant changes to realise the promised benefits
• how smoothly the product operates for users and how well it meets user needs
• how your existing systems will integrate with the new technology to ensure clear and reliable workflows
• what are the product’s data requirements, and does your organisation have the necessary data labelled, formatted and stored in the right way
• what data storage and computing power does the product need, and how will you ensure this is in place
• how will you monitor whether your product is achieving in practice the benefits anticipated in theory