The guide emphasises the need throughout this process for close collaboration and co-production with users and other key stakeholders in delivery of decision support. It underlines at every stage how development and implementation of decision support contribute to creation of a learning health and care system which brings together evidence and data to inform continuous improvement.

The development and implementation approach outlined in this guidance resonates with the Knowledge into Action (K2A) cycle which underpins the competences required for decision support development and implementation (see Section 3). This means that the practical work of development and implementation builds directly on the skills, knowledge and attitudes defined at each stage of the K2A cycle.

The guide is aimed mainly at teams in NHS Scotland and partners in social care and other agencies who are using Scotland’s national decision support platform – the Right Decision Service.  It describes generic principles and methods which will also be of use more broadly to teams using and implementing other decision support tools.

This guide is based on a combination of research evidence, best practice, and expert consultation:

• Interviews with key opinion leaders,
• An extensive review of relevant literature
• Osheroff’s 2012 how-to guide on DSS implementation [Osheroff 2012]
• The 2018 evidence-based GUIDES guideline and checklist on DSS implementation [van de Velde 2018a].