Decision support for health care: the PROforma evidence base

Cancer Research UK has developed PROforma, a formal language for modelling clinical processes, along with associated tools for creating decision support, care planning, clinical workflow management and other applications. The PROforma method has been evaluated in a variety of settings: in primary health care (prescribing, referral of suspected cancer patients, genetic risk assessment) and in specialist care of patients with breast cancer, leukaemia, HIV infection and other conditions. About nine years of experience have been gained with PROforma technologies. Seven trials of decision support applications have been published or are in preparation. Each of these has shown significant positive effects on a variety of measures of quality and/or outcomes of care. This paper reviews the evidence base for the clinical effectiveness of these PROforma applications, and previews the CREDO project -- a multi-centre trial of a complex PROforma application for supporting integrated breast cancer care across primary and secondary care settings.