Similar case studies

REF impact found 127 Case Studies

Currently displayed text from case study:

Reducing Health Inequalities

Summary of the impact

Health inequalities are recognised as a critical UK policy issue with life expectancy gaps of up to 28 years between the least and most deprived areas. This case-study demonstrates how Durham University research has led to: (a) changing health service commissioning (with County Durham and Darlington Primary Care Trust [PCT]): (b) influencing NHS funding policy (by generating Parliamentary debate); as well as (c) contributing to the development of the new public health system in England and Wales (as part of the Strategic Review of Health Inequalities in England post-2010 [Marmot Review]).

Submitting Institution

University of Durham

Unit of Assessment

Social Work and Social Policy

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Economics: Applied Economics

Development of mathematical models for Practice based Commissioning budgets for adult mental health in the UK

Summary of the impact

Professor Trevor Bailey of the University of Exeter led the methodological and computational development of new improved mathematical models to more fairly allocate resources, and particularly mental health resources, to GP practices in the UK within an interdisciplinary research team from the universities of Plymouth, Southampton and St Andrews. The mental health services component of NHS Practice based commissioning (PBC) introduced by the Department of Health (DoH) from 2007 onwards, deals with resource allocation for specialist healthcare for some 400,000 patients with severe mental illness. From 2009 to 2011, the team's mental health estimates, based upon the modelling efforts of Bailey, were used to set practice-level PBC budgets accounting for around £8 billion of NHS funding, the DoH describing this as a `step-change improvement' in how mental health needs are modelled.

Submitting Institution

University of Exeter

Unit of Assessment

Mathematical Sciences

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Economics: Applied Economics

Achieving change through policy-relevant research: strengthening the provision of health visiting by influencing government

Summary of the impact

Evidence about the need for and provision of health visiting services generated through research undertaken at King's College London (KCL) has underpinned major changes in national policies for health visiting. Our findings about health visitors' practice, availability and distribution of services and effectiveness in terms of parenting/child outcomes, revealed both shortfalls in provision and opportunities for improvement and led to the development of a new caseload weighting tool and funding model for service planning. The accumulated evidence from this research helped convince the UK Government in 2010 to commit to 4,200 more health visitors by 2015 — a workforce expansion of nearly 50% — in a time of austerity and restraint elsewhere in the public sector.

Submitting Institution

King's College London

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Social Work

Addressing inequalities in health: Shaping the allocation of resources in the National Health Service

Summary of the impact

Findings from research at Newcastle on health inequalities and the basis on which economic decisions are made have informed the recommendations made to and adopted by the Secretary of State of Health. These recommendations influenced two specific areas of the National Health Service (NHS) budget allocation. Formulae developed by Wildman and his colleagues are of key importance in determining the allocation of the NHS's £8 billion prescribing budget and the £10.4 billion mental health services budget.

Submitting Institution

Newcastle University

Unit of Assessment

Business and Management Studies

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Economics: Applied Economics

5. Cardiff research leads Welsh Government and England’s Department of Health to implement systematic health check for ~250,000 adults with learning disabilities across England and Wales.

Summary of the impact

Adults with learning disabilities (LD) often cannot adequately report illness and there is evidence that treatable illnesses go undetected. As a direct result of Cardiff University research on health checking adults in primary care, the Welsh Government and the Department of Health now provide funding for all adults with LDs across England and Wales to receive an annual health check that employs Cardiff University methods. Current data on take-up (N=78,000 per year) and evaluation of results show that nearly 250,000 adults with LDs have had new health needs identified and treatments initiated during the REF assessment period (2008-2013). Nearly 40,000 adults per year will have new health needs identified and treatments initiated as a result of the health checks, with approximately 3,500 of these being potentially serious conditions.

Submitting Institution

Cardiff University

Unit of Assessment

Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience

Summary Impact Type

Health

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Developing evidence based practice on lay health roles

Summary of the impact

The `People in Public Health' (PIPH) study and related research on health trainers, health champions and volunteers has brought together evidence on rationales for lay engagement, effectiveness and models of support. Dissemination activities, supported by a Department of Health grant, have achieved reach into various policy arenas and national networks. At the same time there is evidence of research utilisation in public health practice. One of the impacts has been the establishment of `Active Citizens for Health', a national network of partner organisations to bring together evidence and learning that has been hosted by Leeds Metropolitan University.

Submitting Institution

Leeds Metropolitan University

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

The impact of the Marmot Review on national and local policies to redress social inequalities in health

Summary of the impact

In November 2008, Professor Sir Michael Marmot and his team at UCL were asked by the Secretary of State for Health to chair an independent review to propose the most effective evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities in England. The Marmot Review, published in 2010, has fundamentally shifted discourse on health inequalities in the UK and internationally. It has shaped public health services across England and around the world, guided government and international policy, and has given rise to a new commitment from service providers and health professionals to reducing health inequalities and addressing the social determinants of health.

Submitting Institution

University College London

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

How the development and application of techniques for assessing the payback (or impact) from health research informs policies to support health research

Summary of the impact

Globally, many health research-funding organisations, public and charitable, felt the need to demonstrate to policymakers and the public how their investments in research were benefitting society. HERG's research on developing techniques for assessing the payback (or impact) from health research tackled this need. The payback stream of research itself has had significant, wide- reaching and cumulative impacts. First, internationally, health research funding bodies adopted the framework in their evaluation strategies, including to provide accountability. Second, many stakeholders made extensive use the findings of payback studies in public debate and private lobbying for public expenditure on health research. Third, governments, public research funding bodies and medical research charities, from the UK to Australia, used the findings from payback studies to inform decisions regarding the levels and distribution of health research funding, with the aim of increasing the health and economic benefits that come from investments in research.

Submitting Institution

Brunel University

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration

Delivering public health services through community pharmacy

Summary of the impact

Research by the School of Pharmacy has been used by the UK Government in their drive to improve the nation's public health. Our evidence base was used to inform the 2008 White Paper "Pharmacy in England: Building on Strengths — Delivering the Future". Healthy Living Pharmacies, recommended by the White Paper, have been piloted leading to improved engagement with local commissioners, further training for pharmacy staff, more cost-effective delivery of public health services, and an increase in public awareness and access to these services. In addition, the Government backed Pharmacy and Public Health Forum is utilising our research in its remit to develop, implement and evaluate public health practice in pharmacy.

Submitting Institution

University of Nottingham

Unit of Assessment

Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy

Summary Impact Type

Political

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

CHE01 - Resources in the National Health Service (NHS)

Summary of the impact

York research has, continuously since the early 1990's, underpinned the methods by which a substantial proportion of the total NHS budget is allocated by the Department of Health to the organisations providing or arranging healthcare. Despite numerous NHS reforms, our research has produced formulae appropriate to each new system. These formulae have driven NHS policy on allocations across geographical areas and health care administrative entities in England, thereby ensuring that the population of approximately 55 million people receives a share of over £90 billion of healthcare resources that is fair and better reflects relative health care needs.

Submitting Institution

University of York

Unit of Assessment

Public Health, Health Services and Primary Care

Summary Impact Type

Economic

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Economics: Applied Economics

Filter Impact Case Studies

Download Impact Case Studies