Evidence-based management in the NHS: is it possible?

The rise of evidence-based medicine and more recently evidence-based policy reflect the increasing importance of evidence as a basis for the organisation and delivery of health care. Evidence-based practice is central to the "modernisation" of health care in current UK policy. The latest manifestation of this process is the emergence of evidence-based management in health care. This paper examines the development of evidence-based approaches in health care and questions the appropriateness of such an approach to management. The problems inherent in applying the principles of EBP to management are explored and alternative apporoach based on the notion of craft is suggested as more practical and realistic.