2.4 Evaluate potential solutions and draw conclusions

This guide will help you answer 2.4 Evaluate potential solutions and draw conclusions.

Once you have a list of possible options, you need to judge each one carefully. Evaluation means looking at how each solution might work in practice, what it will cost, and what benefits or risks it could bring. This stops you from taking action based only on guesswork or quick fixes.

Judging options formally is more balanced and fair. It builds confidence in your decisions among staff, people using services, and external bodies like regulators.

Common Criteria for Evaluation

You can measure each solution against common factors. The most useful are:

• Effectiveness: Will it actually address the problem?
• Safety: Could it create new risks?
• Quality: Does it improve standards of care and support?
• Cost: Is it affordable within your budget?
• Timeframe: How quickly can it be put in place?
• Resources: Do you have the people, skills or equipment needed?
• Acceptability: Will staff, people using services, and families support it?
• Sustainability: Can the solution last long term?

Other relevant aspects include compliance with laws, policies, and ethical standards.

Using a Structured Tool

A simple evaluation table or scoring system helps you compare solutions. For example, give each solution a score from 1 to 5 for each criterion. This makes it easier to see which option stands out overall.

Example:

Solution	Effectiveness	Safety	Cost	Staff Impact	Speed	Total Score
A: Increase staff	5	4	2	4	3	18
B: New equipment	4	4	3	3	4	18
C: More training	3	5	5	5	5	23

Adjust the criteria and scoring to fit your local needs.

Analysing Risks and Drawbacks

For each option, list potential negatives. Be open about challenges like:

• Extra work for staff
• Disruption to daily routines
• Costs that could stretch your budget
• Training needs or delays to implementation

Consider the worst-case scenario. If you introduce a new system and it fails, what could the consequences be? Write these risks down and think about how they can be reduced.

Involving Stakeholders in Evaluation

Share each option with people who will be affected by the changes. This usually includes:

• People who use the service
• Staff members
• Family representatives
• External professionals (if relevant)
• Senior managers

Ask them for feedback. They might see positives or negatives you missed. Listening and acting on their input strengthens your decision and creates buy-in.

Equality and Inclusion

Before making a final choice, consider if any solution would:

• Make access harder for a particular group
• Not work well with cultural, language, or individual care needs

If so, either adjust the solution or reconsider its use.

Drawing Conclusions

Once you have evaluated and compared every option, you need to make a clear conclusion. This means explaining which solution (or combination) you will use—and why.

This conclusion should:

• Set out your preferred option, based on evaluation results
• Show how the benefits outweigh the risks
• Reference evidence or feedback from your evaluation process
• Highlight how you will address any negatives
• Outline what success will look like—how will you know if it worked?

It is good practice to keep a written record of your evaluation process, results, and final choice. This protects you and your service, especially if regulators or inspectors later ask why you acted as you did.

Example of Drawing Conclusions

Imagine you identified five ways to reduce medication errors. After scoring:

• Extra training for staff is affordable, quick, well supported, and has evidence of success.
• Introducing a new electronic medication system is costly, takes long to set up, and not all staff feel confident using it.
• Changing pharmacy supplier may only shift the problem elsewhere.

Your conclusion:

The evaluation shows that providing extra training is likely to have the biggest immediate impact on medication safety. Staff support this solution and it can be delivered quickly within our existing budget. Some refresher training will be targeted at new starters, as they are more likely to make errors. The need for a new electronic system will be reviewed again in one year.

Monitoring and Review

Making a decision is not the end. Set out how you will review the solution’s success:

• Choose outcome measures (such as a fall in incident rates or improved satisfaction scores)
• Set times to review (after 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months, etc.)
• Make changes if things do not improve as expected

Keep all the evidence from the evaluation and review process in your records.

Explaining Your Decision

Be ready to explain your choice clearly. Regulators, commissioners, staff, people using services and families may all ask about it. Use plain English and simply show how you reached your decision using a fair and balanced process.

Final Thoughts

Evaluating potential solutions thoroughly and fairly is essential to making informed decisions that truly improve care and support. By using clear criteria, structured tools, and involving all relevant stakeholders, you ensure that your choices are balanced, inclusive, and grounded in evidence. Documenting your process and being ready to review and adjust your decisions over time builds trust and demonstrates strong leadership. Ultimately, this careful approach leads to better outcomes for everyone involved and creates a solid foundation for continuous improvement in your service.