Tackling health inequalities: turning policy into practice?

David J. Hunter and Amanda Killoran

UK Health Development Agency – 2004 - ISBN: 1-84279-229-6

 

Available online as PDF file [28p.] at:

http://www.hda.nhs.uk/documents/tacklinghealthinequalities.pdf

”……. As studies have shown, evidence is rarely applied to decision making in accordance with a rational, linear model. In practice, evidence is often generated through doing – in the enactment of policy. Evidence may be only one component of any decisionmaking process, but it can be made an integral part of a culture of inquiry based on continual learning and development.

Leaders and managers need to appreciate the complex relationship between research evidence and practice, and to

ensure the right conditions are created to allow practitioners to reflect on, and learn from, the practice of what they do

and how they do it. In this way, learning becomes a supply of evidence to be drawn on as practitioners continue to

implement and reshape policy. Managing change can be undertaken on a sustainable basis only if it is informed by the

process of securing change as it occurs. This is the true meaning of the learning organisation....”

 

Content:

 

Introduction

1 Policy development and implementation

2 The nature of public health evidence and its application

3 Effective approaches to regeneration and reducing health inequalities at neighbourhood level

4 Managing system change

Conclusions and recommendations

References