Defining an Unmet Need

#Describe the gap in current practice

An unmet need is a gap between what people require and what current care or support reliably provides. It may involve access, safety, understanding, coordination or workload. Describe the affected group and setting precisely enough that someone unfamiliar with the work can understand where the gap appears.

Explain what happens now, including workarounds and existing services. A problem statement should distinguish a documented gap from a concern that has not yet been investigated. Reports from patients and staff can reveal important difficulties, while records and observation may help establish their frequency, context and consequences.

#Separate causes from proposed solutions

Avoid defining the need as the absence of a particular tool. Saying that a service lacks an app does not explain what patients or staff cannot currently achieve. Instead, describe the task or outcome that is difficult, such as understanding instructions or obtaining information when a decision is needed.

Explore why the difficulty occurs. Delays might reflect unclear responsibilities, limited capacity, inaccessible information or several interacting causes. A technology may address one cause while leaving others unchanged. Consider changes to communication, staffing or process alongside technical options, without assuming that any single approach will solve the whole problem.

#Make the need testable and bounded

Write a short statement covering who is affected, the present difficulty and the consequence that matters. Define what improvement would look like without promising a result. Include possible trade-offs: a faster process, for example, would not necessarily be better if it increased errors or excluded people needing additional support.

Check the statement with people who experience and manage the problem, including those whose views are easily missed. Record areas of disagreement and gaps in understanding. Set boundaries around the setting and tasks being considered so that later evidence can be judged against a clear, stable question.

#Common misunderstandings

An unmet need is not simply the absence of a product, service or technology. It is a gap between the care people need and what current practice reliably delivers. Describing that gap should leave room for different responses, including changes to staffing, communication, access or existing processes.

A common misunderstanding is that a frequent problem must be the most important one. Frequency matters, but so do severity, avoidable harm and the burden on patients, carers and staff. A less common problem may still deserve attention if its consequences are substantial.

Another misunderstanding is that professional frustration alone establishes a need. Frustration can reveal a problem, but patient experiences and evidence about care delivery help clarify its significance. Likewise, variation between services does not automatically mean poorer care: some differences reflect appropriate responses to different populations. A strong need statement makes these distinctions clear rather than treating every difference as a failure.

#Questions worth asking a clinician

• Which patients experience this gap in care, and how does it affect their health, daily life, or access to treatment?
• How would you describe the care gap without naming a device, test, medicine, or other proposed solution?
• What evidence helps distinguish the causes of this gap from its symptoms?
• What workarounds do patients and clinicians currently use, and where do those approaches fall short?
• What improvement would matter most to patients, and what added risks, costs, or burdens would they consider acceptable?