University of Glasgow
| University of Glasgow | |
|---|---|
| University of Glasgow Student Services Fraser Building 65 Hillhead Street Glasgow Scotland G12 8QQ | Telephone : 0141 330 4515 Email : pgadmissions@admin.gla.ac.uk Website : University of Glasgow |
| Robertson Centre for Biostatistics : Introduction to Health Economics: A One Day Course | |
| Description: | This is a one-day introductory course aimed at anyone involved in NHS decision-making who wants to understand the basic principles of economics thinking and how they apply to real world problems. The topics to be covered will include: Current NHS decision-making on the allocation of resources How are budgets and other resources allocated now? What objective(s) is this trying to address? Who makes the decisions? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the approach? The economics approach Starting from the premise that we can’t afford every health service we would like, this section will consider how economists think about the world and the choices that entails. In making decisions, the approach falls back on health gain as the fundamental objective and asks how we can get as much health benefit as possible from the budget. Techniques such as cost-benefit analysis are then applied to work out which services should be funded and which should not. A range of case studies Drawing on the tutor’s experience in a range of settings case studies will be used to illustrate how economics can help and this issues it raises in several settings: (i) Evaluation of a new medicine – the most frequent problem is to evaluate a medicine, a new service or an initiative. This draws on techniques such as cost-utility analysis to assess the value of the medicine (or service) in terms of QALYs or health gain, set against the cost. (ii) Priority-setting at local level – many people working in PCTs and health authorities will recognise the issue of having enough money to fund one or two service developments but having to choose these from a list of 15-20 options. Economics thinking can shape the discussion regarding the choice. (iii) Allocating the NHS budget – wherever you work in the NHS you will be affected by the way in which the national budget is allocated (even if you are not personally involved!) How are decisions made now, what evidence are they based on, and how could economics help? |
| Contact: | Dorothy Brand |
| Boyd Orr Building University of Glasgow Glasgow G12 8QQ | |
| Telephone: | 0141 330 5245/4744 |
| Email: | D.Brand@stats.gla.ac.uk |
| Qualification Information: | CPD 5 credits. |
| Entry Requirements: | The course aimed at anyone involved in NHS decision-making who wants to understand the basic principles of economics thinking. |
| Fees: | The cost of this course is £150.00 per person (plus VAT subject to status), and includes morning tea/coffee, lunch, afternoon tea/coffee and course notes. |
| Website: | http://www.rcb.gla.ac.uk/courses.htm |