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Professor Andrew Oswald is a pioneer in the study of the economics of happiness and well-being, demonstrating that employment, gender, age, and bereavement have a significant impact on happiness and giving form and substance to measures that many consider to have been lacking in modern governance. Oswald's research has shaped public attitudes and understanding about how both personal and aggregate economic outcomes influence individual happiness and has driven policy makers to consider happiness and well-being as legitimate policy goals in the UK and abroad.
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.
The Wellbeing Programme at the LSE's Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) was founded in 2001, based on the belief that subjective wellbeing should be the main criterion for making government policy. The research programme has had a widespread impact on many UK government policies, including policies for measuring national wellbeing; for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies in the NHS; for improving life skills in schools; and for apprenticeships. CEP research has also had significant impact worldwide, including on the OECD's measurement programme, the World Economic Forum, and the United Nations (UN) process towards making happiness one of the `sustainable development goals' after 2015.
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.
Research carried out at the University of Aberdeen into the factors that influence the job satisfaction, health and well-being of employees has directly informed national and international policy reviews and reports. In the UK, recommendations from the research were incorporated into the Hutton Review of Fair Pay in the Public Sector; internationally, they were included in several EU Commission policy reviews and business press reports. The research was also presented direct to policy makers at EU forums and achieved considerable secondary reach through media coverage.
LSE research has formed the basis for a new assessment framework which helps healthcare planners set priorities within fixed budgets. Since 2005, a group of scholars at LSE has been developing a programme of applied research that is enabling organisations responsible for commissioning health services to make better use of their limited resources to improve value for their populations. It has led to: (a) new health spending strategies in the Isle of Wight in 2007, 2008 and 2009 that delivered a 50% reduction in emergency asthma admissions; (b) 15% savings on the spend on eating disorder services in Sheffield from 2009; (c) new guidelines for commissioning cost-effective care in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; (d) a user-friendly Excel decision support tool, user-guidance and instructions for facilitators available for free download, as well as training modules for potential users; and (e) the evaluation of alternative strategies for the allocation of US$10 million per year to fight tuberculosis in Sudan in 2013-15, this being the first of a series of pilots to adapt the LSE assessment framework to the new funding model of the Global Fund.
We have achieved significant and far reaching impact in the field of public health outcomes, policy and practice. For the first time, age/sex disaggregated estimates of smoking and ex-smoking prevalence were made available for approximately 7700 electoral wards in England and around 1000 postcode sectors for Scotland. The information has influenced national tobacco control policies (e.g. the ban of smoking in enclosed public spaces in England) and has impacted on national smoking-related health inequalities by targeting delivery of cessation services where they are most needed. Findings have also informed anti-smoking campaigns led by health authorities, charities and pressure groups.
The Work-Related Quality of Life (WRQoL®) scale and its derivatives have been used to assess and enhance the quality of working life in 10% of UK universities, ten NHS Trusts, five Trade Unions, 15 schools, a professional body (the British Psychological Society) and parts of other large national organisations (Police, BBC, RNLI). The research and data provided by the Quality of Working Life (QoWL®) team at the University of Portsmouth also now forms a significant element of the UK Government's definition and approach to tackling organisational stress. The WRQoL® scale is available in 11 languages and 50+ countries, and is directly and indirectly saving organisations thousands of pounds and helping contributing to the improved wellbeing of millions of employees.
Pickett and Wilkinson's research, summarised in The Spirit Level (Penguin), argued that the level of income inequality in rich, developed market democracies strongly influences their performance on a wide range of health and social indicators. Since 2009, the book has contributed to a significant shift in public debate across the world — at grassroots level, in the media and in legislative assemblies — and has shaped political thinking, legislation and policy making.
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.