Health committee criticises the implementation of initiatives

The inquiry in to Health inequalities, led by the Health Select Committee, has criticised the poor evaluation of health related initiatives following their implementation. The Committee stresses that the policies themselves are not necessarily under criticism, rather in many cases initiatives and interventions have been introduced without any plans to evaluate them, meaning any outcomes are difficult to measure.

The King’s Fund has voiced their support for the criticism commenting that it is ‘impossible to be confident that money will not be wasted on ineffective measures in future.’ The report presents this problem as one of the most serious criticisms heard by the inquiry, with new emphasis being put on the use of evidence-based policy.

As a result, the inquiry has set out recommended research guidelines to be applied to any future initiatives introduced by the Government; piloting, collection of relevant data before and during any pilot, randomisation and pairing of controls, and a monitoring of important health-related outcomes within a set period of time. Such procedures should ensure that any piloted initiative has its progress closely monitored.

Other issues were raised during the inquiry, such as the quality of access to health services. The Committee voiced its support for the government’s policy to introduce more GPs into deprived areas where health inequalities are most obvious. However, the report stresses this is not a high priority, with the poor initiative evaluation topping the list.