Category Archives: Health policy

Using evidence to advise public health decision makers: an insider’s view

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This blog post reviews a recent seminar hosted by the MRC IEU, PolicyBristol and the Bristol Population Health Science Institute.

Public health is one of the most contested policy areas. It brings together ethical and political issues and evidence on what works, and affects us all as citizens.

Researchers produce evidence and decision-makers receive advice – but how does evidence become advice and who are the players who take research findings and present advice to politicians and budget-holders?

We were pleased to welcome a diverse audience of around 75 multidisciplinary academics, policymakers and practitioners to hear our seminar speakers give a range of insider perspectives on linking academic research with national and local decisions on what to choose, fund and implement.

In this blog post we summarise the seminar, including links to the slides and event recording. Continue reading →

Institutionalising preventive health: what are the key issues for Public Health England?

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By Takver from Australia [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikime

Authors: Paul Cairney, John Boswell, Richard Gleave, Kathryn Oliver

The Green Paper on preventing ill health was published in July 2019, and many have criticised that proposals do not go far enough. Our guest blog explores some of the challenges that Public Health England face in providing evidence-informed advice. Read on to discover the reflections from a recent workshop on using evidence to influence local and national strategy and their implications for academic engagement with policymakers. Continue reading →

What the NHS needs is more managers

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File 20181028 7059 1w33xlt.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1George Rudy

Ian Kirkpatrick, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick

NHS managers could do with a facelift. Cure the NHS with far fewer managers and It is nurses working at the coalface of the NHS that we need, not more bosses are commonplace headlines. And cynicism about NHS managers is not limited to the media. Two years ago, the then minister for health, Jeremy Hunt, wondered whether the NHS had made a mistake in the 1980s “by deliberately creating a manager class who were not clinicians”. Both Labour and Conservative governments have tried (unsuccessfully) to reduce their number. Continue reading →

Up to 17% of children in the UK could have symptoms of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, according to latest estimates

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File 20181129 170253 1x9q3q8.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1
GagliardiImages/Shutterstock

Cheryl McQuire, University of Bristol

The UK has the fourth highest prevalence of drinking in pregnancy in the world. This puts a significant number of people at risk of a group of conditions known as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Until now, though, the prevalence of FASD in the UK has not been known. Continue reading →

Nanny states and grown-up debates on alcohol policy

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Reducing arguments to simplistic – even incoherent – claims and accusations is not good for reasoned, public deliberation, says Professor John Coggon

Professor John Coggon, Professor of Law, Bristol University

27 November 2018 – Debates on alcohol policy are necessarily complex and controversial, and a complete consensus on how we should regulate this area will not be achieved. Like other lawful but regulated products, alcohol presents benefits and harms that may be understood from ranging perspectives. Continue reading →