Healthcare research is all too often plagued by biases that are rooted in poor methods, leading to the wrong result and conclusions and preventing uptake into practice. We need a better understanding of what constitutes rigorous research; what are the different types of research that underpin decision making that matters to patients and how we should go about fixing the problems of poor quality research.

There are major structural problems with the current production and use of evidence that needs resuscitating. If left unaddressed, these inherent problems may become entrenched and unsolvable.