Improving healthcare quality in Europe

"Quality improvement initiatives take many forms, from the creation of standards for health professionals, health technologies and health facilities, to audit and feedback, and from fostering a patient safety culture to public reporting and paying for quality. For policy-makers who struggle to decide which initiatives to prioritise for investment, understanding the potential of different quality strategies in their unique settings is key.....This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies."

Improving healthcare quality in Europe: Characteristics, effectiveness and  implementation of different strategies
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
October 2019

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Enhancing evidence informed policymaking in complex health systems

"In developing and supporting evidence-to-policy interventions, due consideration should be given to fit-for-purpose approaches, as different needs in policymaking cycles require adapted processes and knowledge. Greater consideration should be provided to approaches embedding the use of research in real-world policymaking, better suited to the complex adaptive nature of health systems."

Enhancing evidence informed policymaking in complex health systems: lessons from multi-site collaborative approaches
EV Langlois, V Becerril Monteklo, T Young, K Song,  Alcalde-Rabanal, N Tran
Health Research Policy and Systems, 2016, 14:20

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The European health report 2015

"The gaps between the highest and lowest values reported in the Region for the Health 2020 indicators linked to social determinants of health – infant mortality, life expectancy, primary school enrolment and unemployment – have shrunk, but the absolute differences between countries remain large."

The European health report 2015: Targets and beyond - reaching new frontiers in evidence
WHO Regional Office for Europe
October 2015

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The European health report 2015

"The gaps between the highest and lowest reported values for the Health 2020 indicators linked to the social determinants of health –  infant mortality, life expectancy, primary school enrolment and unemployment – have shrunk. Preliminary data suggest that this positive trend has continued since 2010, although absolute differences between countries remain large."

The European health report 2015: Targets and beyond - reaching new frontiers in evidence
World Health Organization
September 2015

Read more here.

Health policy priorities for a new parliament

"This collection of essays, published jointly by the All-Party Parliamentary Health Group (APHG) and The King’s Fund, maps out health priorities for the next Parliament, as seen from the perspective of a distinguished collection of authors, representing key stakeholders in the world of health."

Health policy priorities for a new parliament
The King's Fund
July 2015

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Role of the Secretary of State for Health, in their own words

"What is the role of the Secretary of State for Health? What should it be? How far, in an almost entirely tax-funded NHS, can health ministers be removed from the day-to-day operations of the NHS? How far should they be, if the service is to remain accountable to its patients, to taxpayers and to the public at large? These are the core questions that lie behind this review."

Glaziers and window breakers: The role of the Secretary of State for Health, in their own 
words
N Timmins, E Davies
The Health Foundation
May 2015

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Three tests for a credible health policy

"In order to meet this enormous challenge, there is consensus that over the next five years the NHS in England needs to focus on three aims:

1. maintaining and improving care quality now
2. transforming the way care is delivered for the future
3. achieving financial balance."

Three tests for a credible health policy
The Health Foundation
February 2015

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What is the evidence on the economic impacts of integrated care?

"Failure to better integrate or coordinate services along the care continuum may result in suboptimal outcomes and available evidence of integrated care programmes points to a positive impact on the quality of patient care and improved health or patient satisfaction outcomes."

Policy summary 11: What is the evidence on the economic impacts of integrated care?
E Nolte, E Pitchforth
European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
World Health Organization
2014

Read more here.

Strengthening the practice of health policy and systems research

"System change begins and ends with people because people, operating in various roles, ultimately make up any system and fundamentally shape how it works."

People-centred science: strengthening the practice of health policy and systems research
K Sheikh, A George, L Gilson
Health Research Policy and Systems, 2014, 12:19

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A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD

“Consistent with the gray literature, there were large variations across regions, hospitals and physician practices for almost every condition and procedure studied.”

A systematic review of medical practice variation in OECD
AN Corallo, R Croxford, DC Goodman, EL Bryan, D Srivastava, TA Stukel
Health Policy, 2014, 114:5-14

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The changing national role in health system governance

"This study provides an overview of recent changes in the national government’s role in the governance of the health systems in 12 countries."

The changing national role in health system governance: a case-based study of 11 European countries and Australia
Edited by E Jakubowski, RB Saltman
World Health Organization (European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies)
April 2013

Read more here.

How hard can it be to include research evidence and evaluation in local health policy implementation?

"Local commissioners and managers need to build the critical use of research evidence and evaluation into health policy implementation at local level in order to provide consistent and effective healthcare services."

How hard can it be to include research evidence and evaluation in local health policy implementation? Results from a mixed methods study
BA Evans, H Snooks, H Howson, M Davies
Implementation Science, 2013, 8:17

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Health policy and systems research

"The Reader provides guidance on the defining features of HPSR and the critical steps in conducting research in this field."

Health policy and systems research: A methodology
Edited by Lucy Gilson
Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization
2012

Read more here.

CHSRF on Call - free webinars on health service transformation

"CHSRF on Call is a series of free webinars, in English and French, featuring policy- and decision- makers as they explore existing evidence on key topics to see how it can improve the delivery of health services and the health of Canadians."

The service is provided by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and you can read more here.

Hospitals and care systems of the future

"This report will mobilize hospital senior leadership teams to consider the strategies they must deploy throughout their individual organizations to adapt and succeed in the future."


Hospitals and care systems of the future
American Hospital Association
September 2011

Read more here.

Health datasets for economists

"This Compendium of Health Datasets for Economists (ICoHDE) provides the largest collection of English specific datasets available for researchers interested in the field of economics of health and health care."


The interactive compendium of health datasets for economists
University of Oxford
2011

Access the resource here.

Building the field of health policy and systems research

"Three Policy Forum articles, authored by a diverse group of global health academics, critically examine the current challenges to the field and lay out what is needed to build capacity in HPSR and support local policy development and health systems strengthening, especially in low and middle income countries."

Building the field of health policy and systems research: an agenda for action
S Bennett, I Akua Agyepong, K Sheikh, K Hanson, F Ssengooba, L Gilson
PLoS Medicine, 2011, 8(8)

Read more here.