Module: Health systems, economics and policy

Topic 6


Topic 6: Health Care Planning

Objectives/learning outcomes

Students will be able to:

  • Understand concepts of data collection, routine data and population-based data (including vital statistics and census data); link to epi and stats lecture
  • Understand the relationship between health system design and data collection;
  • Understand the role of data in planning;
  • Critically examine information systems from the perspective of equity.

Seminar: Health systems and data collection: when is population-based data collected and how is it used?

Week 6 Health Systems: Seminar exercises

Planning and its relevance to policy developments:

Each seminar group should divide into groups of  four people and allocate the work among them. Each group should do either question 1 or question 2 (both questions should be covered by the four or five groups in each seminar). Most seminars will have two groups covering each question.  BSc students may wish to focus on question 1. 

Working in groups please do the background work in in advance of seminar with a view to presenting your findings to the whole group (ten minutes max).

1.London is planning to close 25% of its acute hospital beds and close up to a quarter of it’s A and E departments over the next two years.  You have been asked to advise local residents as to what questions they might ask at the public meeting  -

Describe how you would approach the problems outlined in question 1 and what principles you would keep in mind?

How might you to develop a framework for analysis ?

What data and information would you require ?

What analysis would you undertake?

Prepare a presentation for the public meeting

2. The health minister asks you to conduct a review of  equity to inform planning in a low income country (of your choice) and to use a Western country as a benchmark (choose a country of your choice )

Describe how you would approach the problems outlined in question 2 and what principles you would keep in mind?

How might you to develop a framework for analysis ?

What data and information would you require ?

What analysis would you undertake

Prepare a presentation for the ministerial summit

 

Choosing only two or three variables of your choice (finance, beds, staff , immunisation, sexual health , operations etc) , please provide an account of the data sources and availability  in the two contrasting countries (using government, WHO and other  websites looking for routine data and  surveys).  Discuss their  strengths and limitations referring back to the reference country population.


Set Reading

 

Black N and Gruen R (2005) Understanding health services. Maidenhead: Open University Press. (Section 5) (Check library availability or buy it here)

Mahapatra P (2007) Who Counts? 2: Civil registration systems and vital statistics: successes and missed opportunities. Lancet 2007; 370: 1653–63. In ep course (Read it here)

Pollock et al Dismantling the signposts to public health? NHS data under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. BMJ 2012;344:e2364 doi: 10.1136/bmj.e2364

Sue Cavanagh and Keith Chadwick (undated). Health needs assessment: a practical guide. London: NICE, http://www.nice.org.uk/media/150/35/Health_Needs_Assessment_A_Practical_Guide.pdf

McFarlane et al Monitoring the National Health Service (Read it here)


Lecture: Monitoring and addressing inequality through data collection

Administrative structures are underpinned by information systems in order that resources may be allocated according to health care needs in the population. The NHS has traditionally provided the model for population-based information systems dedicated to universal health care.  This is because in a universal health system resources are provided on the basis of the health care needs of the whole population and subgroups within the population. Population-based data is important for monitoring inequities and is used as a basis for clinical guidelines and evidence0based medicine. However, market-based health systems are less likely to collect population-based data because there are fewer population level responsibilities. 

Lecture Notes and Powerpoints