Where next for policy evaluation? Insights from researching National Health Service modernisation

This article takes a critical and reflective look at the summative evaluation approach often employed in the context of NHS policy making and puts the case for an evaluation method which is based on a particular concept or variant of formative evaluation. The article uses two contemporary case study evaluations (one summative and one formative) to illustrate the key questions and issues, dilemmas and tensions associated with conducting evaluations within the visible and highly charged political context of the NHS. It concludes that what is at stake here is not only a question of methodology but a redefinition of the relationship between researchers and policy makers and practitioners.