News Release

Lancet launches new website to gather evidence on effects of UK health service reforms and other policies on health outcomes

Business Announcement

The Lancet_DELETED

The Lancet, together with academics from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), today launches The Lancet UK Policy Matters microsite, which aims to summarise current UK health policy and allow posting and reading of evidence summaries from the front line, to be provided by both health professionals and members of the general public.

The idea was inspired by the lack of evidence surrounding the proposed health reforms in the UK, which will give general practitioners (GPs) control over 80% of the NHS budget. As well as tackling health reform, the new website will provide information and evidence in various domains drawn from the 2010 Social Determinants of Health Report by Professor Sir Michael Marmot: health and healthcare, healthy lives, children, successful lives, employment and income, and homes and neighbourhoods.

In a Comment published Online First to coincide with the launch of the new website, Robert W Aldridge and Louise Hurst (UCL), Katie Cole and Martin McKee (LSHTM), together with Lancet Editor Dr Richard Horton say: "Across the board, where the health impacts of all types of policy proposals and decisions are discussed in the public arena, debates have often relied on opinion and ideology rather than evidence. In cases where evidence has been cited, it has been misrepresented to justify change. It is vital, therefore, that evidence is collected on the impact of wider policy changes on health in a timely and transparent manner."

The authors welcome accurate information that can contribute to a picture of the impact of policy reforms on health. These can be qualitative or quantitative, such as personal narratives, local policy responses, research papers, and analyses of publicly available datasets. The authors say: "This broad approach will generate a rich collection of evidence that can be used to illustrate the benefits and risks of the government's policies on health. By presenting information, we encourage others to harness the full potential of this novel approach for further research and evaluation."

A key aim of the new website is to allow real-time analysis of the proposed UK health reforms as they take place on the ground. Such research has traditionally taken many years, or has not taken place at all. For example, the limited research available on the GP-fundholding project in the 90s took many years to appear.

The proposed health reforms are the subject of a number of the initial policy summaries and evidence submissions to the new website. Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellow Helen Barratt provides information on GP-led commissioning and health provider completion, while a GP from the Hackney area of London—Dr Jonathon Tomlinson—provides some first-hand experiences of how the reforms are starting to affect care on the front line.

A wide range of other topics are covered in the website, with LSHTM's Samantha Fox providing a summary of the evidence for alcohol minimum pricing showing that the government's proposed policy is unlikely to have any significant health benefits.

The authors conclude: "For this project to be successful it will require information on the impacts of policies on health. This is our call to action. We call for submissions from a wide variety of sources; health professionals, patients, private and, third sector organisations. We need our call to be echoed and spread through existing networks to maximise the range of contributors...It is our hope that Lancet UK Policy Matters will make a valuable contribution to the debate surrounding the government's current 'listening exercise' on NHS modernisation, and facilitate better evidence for better health policy in the future."

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Note: The Lancet UK Policy Matters website can be found at: http://ukpolicymatters.thelancet.com/

Minor adjustments are being made up to the embargo lifting but journalists can still access from receipt of this e-mail.

Robert W Aldridge, University College London, UK. T) +44 (0) 7790 012159 E) rob.aldridge@gmail.com

Katie Cole, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. T) +44 (0) 7960 185330 E) katiejcole@gmail.com

Louise Hurst, University College London, UK. T) +44 (0) 7764 770162 E) louise.hurst@nhs.net

The Lancet Press Office. T) +44 (0) 20 7424 4949 E) tony.kirby@lancet.com

For full Comment, see: http://press.thelancet.com/ukpolicy.pdf


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