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Edinburgh Napier University led on a large quasi-experimental study which evaluated a National Health Service (NHS) Demonstration Project called Healthy Respect. Healthy Respect was a complex public health intervention based on the latest evidence and theory, which combined school sex education with sexual health drop-in clinics in or near to schools, and was supported by large media and branding campaigns. The research was commissioned by the Scottish Government (2006-2010). Our findings were reported directly to Government and the NHS and were synchronized to fit their policy-making cycles. It shaped Government policy and steered service provision in the NHS.
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.
This case study presents the impact of the Health and Temperature Research Group (HTRG) at Sheffield Hallam University, led by Professor Tod. The group generates novel, collaborative, translational, interdisciplinary (e.g. health, housing and environment, energy and welfare) research with a focus on cold related ill health. The research impact is illustrated here by The Keeping Warm in Later Life Project (KWILLT). KWILLT findings provide a unique understanding of the complex environment and multiple factors influencing older people keeping warm and well in winter. Beneficiaries include NHS, local and national policy makers, and practice organisations.
The Department of Health seeks to distribute the NHS budget to local commissioning organisations to achieve equal access for equal need and reduce health inequalities. The formula upon which it bases this distribution must be evidence-based, robust and up-to-date. We summarise four pieces of applied econometric research undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM) and commissioned by the Department of Health that have developed the methodology for setting budgets fairly and determined the content of the formula in use in England from 2008-date. Adoption of the findings of this research by government has led to a substantial redistribution of NHS funding between areas.
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.
Lancaster research has highlighted the pervasive health inequalities and inadequate services experienced by people with learning disabilities (LD). Our 2005 report commissioned by the Department of Health (DH) proposed the establishment of a specialist LD observatory for England. This proposal was taken up by a government-commissioned independent inquiry and accepted.
The same team is one of three partners who, through a competitive tender process, have since 2010 been operating the first specialist LD public health observatory in the world. The observatory collects, analyses and summarises health information to improve the data available to DH and other stakeholders thereby improving the health of people with LD.
In 2008, the University of Hertfordshire joined, as principal investigators for England, the World Health Organization's Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. European and US policy makers use this long-running cross-national project to set directions for young people's health and wellbeing. Our findings (2011) directly informed policy in the departments of Health and Education, and were identified as a key data source underpinning the Department of Health's outcomes framework for children and young people. Our team also co-authored the World Health Organization's four-yearly international report for 2012, a widely influential document in health care policy and practice.
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]).
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.
Research on health promotion in schools undertaken by UWE has demonstrated that vulnerable young people at the centre of the Government's Teenage Pregnancy Strategy can be reached via their involvement in interactive sexual health drama and further work has had direct influence on national policy in England. Following recommendations from research at UWE, Bristol, 12,000 Bristol school pupils have benefited from the introduction of sexual health clinics. UWE research demonstrated how school meal take-up and healthier eating behaviour has been increased by the work of the Food for Life Partnership. This research contributed directly into the development of the English National School Food Plan particularly into the business case for investing in increased school meal take-up.