The rules of the game: The logic of health policy-making in France, Switzerland, and Sweden

“History matters—pass it on” was the slogan of a campaign launched in England in the summer of 2006 to raise public awareness of the huge contribution that history, heritage and the built environment make to our qualify of life. A resumé commented,It unites the whole heritage sector, led by the National Trust, English Heritage, the Historic Houses Association and the Heritage Lottery Fund, and events will be held over the next six months at hundreds of historic locations across England and Wales. Supporters include David Starkey, Tristram Hunt, Simon Thurley, Stephen Fry, Bill Bryson, Shami Chakrabarti, Tony Benn and Boris Johnson.

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UK-wide health policy under the Coalition

Dismantling the NHS? ◽

10.1332/policypress/9781447330226.003.0007 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

David Hughes

Keyword(s):

Health Policy ◽

Northern Ireland ◽

Health Services ◽

Policy Making ◽

Social Care ◽

The Other ◽

Executive Orders ◽

Health Reforms ◽

Policy Responses ◽

Health And Social Care

A volume on health reforms under the Coalition must necessarily expand its focus beyond Westminster to consider the larger UK policy context. Legislation enacted in 1998 established devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with power to make law or issue executive orders in certain specified areas, including health services. This meant that an English NHS overseen by the Westminster Parliament now existed alongside separate NHS systems accountable to devolved governments in the other UK countries. Thus, the major Coalition health reforms heralded by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 applied in the main to England only. However, devolved administrations needed to formulate appropriate policy responses that either maintained differences or moved closer to the English policies. This chapter describes the divergent approaches between the four UK NHS systems, but also sheds light on the nature of coalition policy making.

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Supporting Evidence-Informed Health Policy Making: The Development and Contents of an Online Repository of Policy-Relevant Documents Addressing Healthcare Renewal in Canada

Healthcare Policy | Politiques de Santé ◽

10.12927/hcpol.2015.24034 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 27-37

Author(s):

Karolina Kowalewski ◽

John Lavis ◽

Michael Wilson ◽

Nancy Carter

Keyword(s):

Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Supporting Evidence

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Can Complexity Move UK Policy beyond ‘Evidence-Based Policy Making’ and the ‘Audit Culture’? Applying a ‘Complexity Cascade’ to Education and Health Policy

Political Studies ◽

10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00903.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 20-43 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Robert Geyer

Keyword(s):

Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Policy Response ◽

Evidence Based ◽

Visual Metaphor ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Audit Culture ◽

Education And Health ◽

Evidence Based Policy ◽

The Uk

For much of the twentieth century UK public policy has been based on a strong centralist, rationalist and managerialist framework. This orientation was significantly amplified by New Labour in the 1990s and 2000s, leading to the development of ‘evidence-based policy making’ (EBPM) and the ‘audit culture’ – a trend that looks set to continue under the current government. Substantial criticisms have been raised against the targeting/audit strategies of the audit culture and other forms of EBPM, particularly in complex policy areas. This article accepts these criticisms and argues that in order to move beyond these problems one must not only look at the basic foundation of policy strategies, but also develop practical alternatives to those strategies. To that end, the article examines one of the most basic and common tools of the targeting/audit culture, the aggregate linear X-Y graph, and shows that when it has been applied to UK education policy, it leads to: (1) an extrapolation tendency; (2) a fluctuating ‘crisis–success' policy response process; and (3) an intensifying targeting/auditing trend. To move beyond these problems, one needs a visual metaphor which combines an ability to see the direction of policy travel with an aspect of continual openness that undermines the extrapolation tendency, crisis–success policy response and targeting/auditing trend. Using a general complexity approach, and building on the work of Geyer and Rihani, this article will attempt to show that a ‘complexity cascade’ tool can be used to overcome these weaknesses and avoid their negative effects in both education and health policy in the UK.

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Learning from Others and Learning from Mistakes Reflections on Health Policy Making

Comparative Studies and the Politics of Modern Medical Care ◽

10.12987/yale/9780300149838.003.0012 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 305-318 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Rudolf Klein

Keyword(s):

Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Learning From Others

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Understanding needs and barriers to using geospatial tools for public health policymaking in China

Geospatial health ◽

10.4081/gh.2018.594 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dohyeong Kim ◽

Yingyuan Zhang ◽

Chang Kil Lee

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Policy ◽

Policy Development ◽

Policy Making ◽

Geographical Information Systems ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Adoption And Implementation ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Geospatial Tools

Despite growing popularity of using geographical information systems and geospatial tools in public health fields, these tools are only rarely implemented in health policy management in China. This study examines the barriers that could prevent policy-makers from applying such tools to actual managerial processes related to public health problems that could be assisted by such approaches, e.g. evidence-based policy-making. A questionnaire-based survey of 127 health-related experts and other stakeholders in China revealed that there is a consensus on the needs and demands for the use of geospatial tools, which shows that there is a more unified opinion on the matter than so far reported. Respondents pointed to lack of communication and collaboration among stakeholders as the most significant barrier to the implementation of geospatial tools. Comparison of survey results to those emanating from a similar study in Bangladesh revealed different priorities concerning the use of geospatial tools between the two countries. In addition, the follow-up in-depth interviews highlighted the political culture specific to China as a critical barrier to adopting new tools in policy development. Other barriers included concerns over the limited awareness of the availability of advanced geospatial tools. Taken together, these findings can facilitate a better understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the challenges and opportunities for widespread adoption and implementation of a geospatial approach to public health policy-making in China.

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Policy options for strengthening evidence-informed health policy-making in Iran: overall SASHA project findings

Health Research Policy and Systems ◽

10.1186/s12961-021-00803-0 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Reza Majdzadeh ◽

Haniye Sadat Sajadi ◽

Bahareh Yazdizadeh ◽

Leila Doshmangir ◽

Elham Ehsani-Chimeh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Health Policy ◽

Policy Making ◽

Good Governance ◽

Evidence Synthesis ◽

Training System ◽

Policy Support ◽

Second Phase ◽

Policy Dialogue ◽

Policy Options ◽

Road Map

Abstract Background The institutionalization of evidence-informed health policy-making (EIHP) is complex and complicated. It is complex because it has many players and is complicated because its institutionalization will require many changes that will be challenging to make. Like many other issues, strengthening EIHP needs a road map, which should consider challenges and address them through effective, harmonized and contextualized strategies. This study aims to develop a road map for enhancing EIHP in Iran based on steps of planning. Methods This study consisted of three phases: (1) identifying barriers to EIHP, (2) recognizing interventions and (3) measuring the use of evidence in Iran's health policy-making. A set of activities was established for conducting these, including foresight, systematic review and policy dialogue, to identify the current and potential barriers for the first phase. For the second phase, an evidence synthesis was performed through a scoping review, by searching the websites of benchmark institutions which had good examples of EIHP practices in order to extract and identify interventions, and through eight policy dialogues and two broad opinion polls to contextualize the list of interventions. Simultaneously, two qualitative-quantitative studies were conducted to design and use a tool for assessing EIHP in the third phase. Results We identified 97 barriers to EIHP and categorized them into three groups, including 35 barriers on the “generation of evidence” (push side), 41 on the “use of evidence” (pull side) and 21 on the “interaction between these two” (exchange side). The list of 41 interventions identified through evidence synthesis and eight policy dialogues was reduced to 32 interventions after two expert opinion polling rounds. These interventions were classified into four main strategies for strengthening (1) the education and training system (6 interventions), (2) the incentives programmes (7 interventions), (3) the structure of policy support organizations (4 interventions) and (4) the enabling processes to support EIHP (15 interventions). Conclusion The policy options developed in the study provide a comprehensive framework to chart a path for strengthening the country’s EIHP considering both global practices and the context of Iran. It is recommended that operational plans be prepared for road map interventions, and the necessary resources provided for their implementation. The implementation of the road map will require attention to the principles of good governance, with a focus on transparency and accountability.

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