Current group activities.
Find our more about our latest project activities.
Emotions and Work Conference, London, November 2019
On 1 November 2019 Philip Begley gave a paper titled ‘‘As I Look Back Now…’: Emotions and Nostalgia Amongst Hospital Administrators’ at the Emotions and Work conference in London organised by members of the ‘Living with Feeling’ project at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary University of London.
History in Policy Event, Cabinet Office, London, October 2019
Sally Sheard was invited to take part in a seminar on the uses of History in policy hosted by the Cabinet Office on 4 October 2019.
Health Services Research Unit Seminar, University of Birmingham, September 2019
On 25 September 2019 Sally Sheard gave a presentation titled ‘Clocks, Cheese and Sticks: Approaches to Managing Waiting in the NHS Since 1948', at the Health Services Research Unit of the University of Birmingham.
Health Policy and Politics Network Conference, University of Oxford, September 2019
Michael Lambert attended the annual conference of the Health Policy and Politics Network, which was held at Templeton College, Oxford from 12 to 13 September 2019, and presented a paper titled ‘Civil War or Permanent Revolution? Working for Patients on Merseyside, 1985-95’.
The Team Evolves…
In August 2019 Michael Lambert, who led the Liverpool and Mersey region strand of the project of the project, took up a new position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Social Inequalities at Lancaster University. Good luck Michael!
European Association for the History of Medicine and Health Conference, University of Birmingham, August 2019
Sally Sheard and Michael Lambert attended the EAHMH conference, which was held at the University of Birmingham from 27 to 30 August 2019. Michael presented a paper titled ‘Inside the National Health Satrapy: Technocrats, Doctors and Politics of Expertise in the National Health Service on Post-War Merseyside, 1948-74’ as part of a panel on ‘The Limits of Medical Expertise in the Post-War British Welfare State’.
Research Seminar, University of Strathclyde, March 2019
Sally Sheard gave a paper titled ‘‘Clubbable’: The Shaping of Britain’s Medical Elite’ as part of the research seminar series at the University of Strathclyde on 19 March 2019.
Alan Maynard and Tony Culyer Lecture, University of York, February 2019
On 22 February 2019 Sally Sheard gave the inaugural Alan Maynard and Tony Culyer lecture in Health Economics at the University of York, titled ‘Convenient Bedfellows: Economists, Politicians and the Creation of a New Political Economy of Health’.
History and Policy International Conference, King’s College London December 2018
Sally Sheard gave a presentation titled ‘Learning from Historians: NHS Plans’ as part of a session on ‘Health and Wellbeing’ at the History and Policy International Conference, King’s College London on 10 December 2018.
Annual Public Lecture, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, November 2018
On 6 November 2018 Sally Sheard gave the Annual Public Lecture at the Centre for History in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine titled ‘Why are we Waiting? Exploring the Political Economy of the NHS’.
‘Doomed to Repeat’ Event, Nuffield Trust, October 2018
Sally Sheard was invited to take part in a panel discussion at the event ‘Doomed to Repeat: Lessons for the NHS Ten Year Plan’ hosted by the Nuffield Trust in London on 16 October 2018.
Society for the Social History of Medicine Conference, University of Liverpool, July 2018
From 11 to 13 July the University of Liverpool hosted the biennial conference of the Society for the Social History of Medicine. The event, which brought together more than 300 researchers from around the world, had the theme of ‘Conformity, Dialogue and Deviance in Health and Medicine’. Sally Sheard led the local organising committee and officially opened and closed the conference. Michael Lambert and Phil Begley presented papers as part of a panel titled ‘Managing Hospitals and Health Services’.
The Team Evolves…
In July 2018 Eleanor Mackillop, who led the Health Economics strand of the project, took up a new position as a Research Associate at the Wales Centre for Public policy at Cardiff Business School. Good luck Eleanor!
NHS@70 Conference, University of Liverpool, June 2018
On 29 June 2018 Sally Sheard gave a keynote address at the NHS@70 conference at the University of Liverpool titled ‘Never Enough the Political Economy of the NHS’.
National Health Stories, BBC Radio 4, June 2018
Sally Sheard was invited to write and present a twenty part series on the history of the NHS: ‘National Health Stories’ for BBC Radio 4. The series, which was produced by Beth Eastwood and broadcast from 18 June to 13 July 2018, allowed Sally to draw extensively on the Governance of Health project research and the policy connections it has developed. Sally interviewed Jeremy Hunt, then Secretary of State for Health, for the final episode, about the politics of maintaining the NHS in the face of rising demand and costs of care. The series was chosen for BBC Radio 4’s Pick of the Year programme on Christmas Day 2018.
Sociological Review Foundation Welfare Imaginaries Seminar, Lancaster University, June 2018
Michael Lambert presented a paper on the history of conditionality and marginality at the first of three seminars on the past, present and future of the welfare state facilitated by the Sociological Review at Lancaster University on 12 June 2018. The purpose of the seminar was to enable a broad conversation beyond the academy and delegates from a range of academic subjects, third sector organisations and professional backgrounds were in attendance.
Health Services Research Centre Seminar, University of Manchester, June 2018
On 11 June 2018 Philip Begley presented at the Health Services Research Centre at the University of Manchester. His paper title was ‘Medics, Managers and Manchester: A History of the National Administrative Training Scheme’ and had a particular focus on the role of the University and Professor Teddy Chester in helping to establish the programme during the 1950s. Many of those in attendance were part of the current version of the national training scheme at Manchester and were able to share valuable insights.
History of Recent Social Science Conference, University of Zurich, June 2018
From 8 to 9 June 2018 Michael Lambert attended the fifth History of Recent Social Science Conference at the University of Zurich. He presented a paper on the relationship between local social science expertise and the development of health, welfare and social services in Liverpool in the post-war period entitled: ‘Building the social service state in the metropolitan hinterland: the generation and application of social science knowledge in health and welfare services in post-war Liverpool, 1945-74’. Copies of the working paper are available upon request.
American Association for the History of Medicine Conference, UCLA, May 2018
From 10-13 May Philip Begley attended the 2018 AAHM conference in Los Angeles on behalf of the project, and presented a paper a titled ‘Learning to Manage the Medics? Administrative Training and Clinical Autonomy in the National Health Service’.
Health Policy and Politics Network, University of Birmingham, April 2018
On 19 April Philip Begley attended the spring 2018 Workshop held by the Health Policy and Politics Network at the Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, and presented a paper on ‘The Rise of Management Consultants in NHS Policymaking’.
European Consortium for Political Research, University of Nicosia, April 2018
From 10-14 April 2018 Eleanor MacKillop attended the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops at the University of Nicosia, taking part in a workshop entitled ‘The Technocratic Challenge to Democracy’ which brought together academics from across Europe to discuss issues around technocracy and expertise in policy-making. Eleanor presented a paper on the role of economists in health policy-making in Britain.
NHS Archives on Merseyside Launch Event, April 2018
On 10 April 2018 Michael Lambert launched a working copy of his guide to accessing and using NHS archives on Merseyside. This included participation from local NHS Trusts, the National Archives, the Wellcome Trust, local archives and record managers, and academics from a number of disciplines with an interest in health history. The final guide will be available later this year as part of the region’s NHS 70 events.
Urban History Society Conference, Keele University, April 2018
On 5 April 2018 Sally Sheard have the keynote address at the Urban History Society Conference at Keele University – ‘High Rates and Health Cities: The Political Economy of Urban Public Health’. Michael Lambert attended and presented a paper entitled ‘Black spot on the Mersey or black spots on Merseyside? Governing the national health in the Liverpool region since 1948’, which considered the tension between understandings of health and their relationship to the development of services by the welfare state.
Political Studies Association Conference, Cardiff, March 2018
On 26 March 2018 Eleanor MacKillop attended the Political Studies Association annual conference in Cardiff. She presented a paper which sought to frame the growing role and influence of economics in health from a discourse perspective.
Royal College of Physicians Anniversary Lecture, March 2018
Sally Sheard gave the first of four lectures to mark the 500th of the Royal College of Physicians on 22 March 2018 at the Liverpool Medical Institution: ‘From the Street to the Clinic via the Club: How Medical Communities Emerge and Survive’.
Witness Seminar on the Development of the National Institute for Health Research, February 2018
Paul Atkinson and Sally Sheard held a witness seminar was on the development of the National Institute for Health Research [NIHR] on 28 February 2018, at the University of Liverpool in London. Attendees included politicians, senior government policy makers and academics. A follow up Chatham-House style event on NIHR was held at HSR-UK, London, on 9 May 2018.
A transcript is available from the Witness Seminars page
Meeting of Wellcome Trust Projects, University of Liverpool in London, January 2018
Following the successful workshop held at the University of Warwick in May 2017, the project team hosted a meeting with the members of the Wellcome trust funded ‘Placing the Public in Public Health’ and ‘Health Systems in History’ projects from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the ‘Cultural History of the NHS’ project from Warwick, along with the Heritage Lottery funded ‘NHS at 70’ project from the University of Manchester. The meeting had a methodological focus. Eleanor MacKillop discussed the challenges of researching health economics and Michael Lambert talked about his work with local archive collections.
Witness Seminar on the Introduction of the NHS Internal Market, December 2017
On 5 December 2017, the project team held a witness seminar in London on the introduction of the NHS internal market in 1991, which introduced managed competition in the NHS, self-governing hospitals and GP fundholding. The event will brought together leading representatives of the medical profession, civil service, health services management, health economics and government to discuss the origins of the reforms, their aims and their impact.
A transcript of the event will be published shortly on the Witness Seminars page
Witness Seminar on the History of British Health Economics and the Role of the University of York, October 2017
This witness seminar was part of the health economics strand of the project and was held at the University of York. The event brought together ten economists from academia and government who played important roles in the development of the discipline from the 1960s and its growing importance in informing health policy. This is illustrated by the formulation of the Quality-Adjusted Life-Years (QALY) index, which forms the basis of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) decision-making process, the 1989-1991 reforms of the NHS and the resource allocation formula. A post published on the Academic Health Economists (AHE) Blog recounts some of the discussions on the day and a transcript of the witness seminar will be published shortly on the Witness Seminars page
European Association for the History of Medicine and Health Conference, Bucharest, August 2017
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Sally Sheard and Philip Begley both presented papers at the EAHMH conference, which was held in Bucharest from 30 August to 2 September 2017. Sally’s paper ‘The Impact of Elite Medical Clubs on Twentieth Century British Health Policy Formation’, drew on the archives of two significant clubs: the Medical Pilgrims and the 1942 Club, which are held at the Wellcome Library in London. She discussed how election to and membership of these clubs has influenced the development of the medical hierarchy, and how these clubs have been used as informal channels to influence government on key policy shifts, such as NHS reorganisations. Phil’s paper ‘‘The Type of Person Needed is One Possessing a Wide Humanity’: A History of Administrative Training in the NHS’ considered debates about a shift from administration to management in the NHS and the questioning of clinical autonomy by looking at the formal training schemes for hospital administrators that have offered by the King’s Fund and others since the 1950s.
Governance of Health Conference, University of Liverpool, July 2017
From 11-12 July 2017 the project team hosted the ‘Governance of Health’ conference at the Liverpool Medical Institution. The event brought together academics from across the UK, the US and Europe working in areas such as history, medical sociology, health policy, health economics, and population health science. The aim was to critically examine health policymaking from both a historical and contemporary perspective, and foster new interdisciplinary approaches.
The conference began with a keynote lecture by Scott Greer from the University of Michigan, whose talk on the ‘Geopolitics of Health and Brexit’ outlined some of the difficulties facing health policymakers and practitioners in the wake of the 2016 referendum on British membership of the European Union. The first day concluded with a public lecture by Frank Dobson, the former Labour MP and Secretary of State for Health, who spoke about his personal experience of working alongside medical professionals, civil servants, and politicians, and highlighted some achievements from his ministerial career and the ways in which they were brought about. There was an audience of around 70 for Frank Dobson’s lecture, and some interesting discussion during the question and answer session that followed it.
Modern British Studies Conference, University of Birmingham, July 2017
Philip Begley attended the Modern British Studies Conference at the University of Birmingham from 5-7 July 2017. He helped to put together a panel around the theme of ‘British Healthcare in a Broken World’, and presented his paper ‘End of the ‘Tripartite Monster’: Reassessing the 1974 NHS Reorganisation’ alongside colleagues from the University of Warwick and LSHTM.
The Team Grows…
On 1 July Dr Michael Lambert joined the Governance of Health team. Michael completed his PhD in March 2017 on the history of the ‘troubled family’ in twentieth century North West England. Michael’s appointment is for two years, and he will be leading the project strand on the local interpretation and implementation of national health policies, using the Liverpool region as a case study.
Health Economists Study Group Bi-Annual Meeting, Aberdeen, June 2017
Sally was invited to give a keynote address to the HESG meeting held at the University of Aberdeen on 29-30 June. She discussed the emergence of health economics as a distinct discipline, and how practitioners have interacted with policymakers, both in England and Wales and in Scotland.
The Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences of Health, Medicine and Technology, June 2017
The Centre for the Humanities and Social Sciences of Health, Medicine and Technology [CHSSoHMT] is a new University of Liverpool venture, for which Sally Sheard serves as Director. It has grown quickly from its formation in December 2016, and now has more than 170 affiliates. On 21 June 2017 Sally discussed research funding options and Eleanor Mackillop talked about inter-disciplinary research from an early-career perspective at the launch of the Critical Medical Humanities strand of CHSSoHMT.
International Medical Ethics Conference, Liverpool, June 2017
On 16 June 2017 Sally Sheard gave a presentation to the International Medical Ethics Conference, held at the Liverpool Medical Institution.
Society for the History of Recent Social Science (HISRESS) Conference, Erasmus University, June 2017
Eleanor Mackillop attended the 4th conference of the Society for the History of Recent Social Science (HISRESS) at Erasmus University in Rotterdam from 9-10 June 2017. She presented a paper titled ‘Problematising the Role of Health Economists in the British National Health Service, 1974-1991’.
Workshop with Wellcome Trust Projects, University of Warwick, May 2017
On 25-26 May 2017 members of the project team took part in a workshop at the University of Warwick titled ‘New Histories of the Health Care System in Modern Britain’. The event, hosted by the ‘Cultural History of the NHS’ project at Warwick, brought together members of that team, those from the ‘Placing the Public in Public Health’ and ‘Health Systems in History’ projects at LSHTM, and the ‘Governance of Health’ project, each of which is funded by the Wellcome Trust. Sally Sheard presented her research into NHS waiting times and Philip Begley spoke about the history of administrative training. There were also wide ranging discussions about policy and public engagement, and plans for future collaboration.
Associated Medical Services Conference, Toronto, May 2017
After her AAHM Nashville conference, Sally went up to Toronto to deliver the keynote address for the AMS 80th anniversary conference. This was attended by a mix of Canadian, US, British and European health policy experts and historians. Sally’s paper: ‘Space, Place and (Waiting) Time: Transatlantic Reflections on Health policy and Politics’ demonstrated the benefits from having a long view on such politically sensitive issues as waiting times for health care.
American Medical Association Conference, Nashville, May 2017
Sally Sheard attended the American Medical Association Conference in Nashville in May 2017 and gave a paper titled ‘The Politics of Sisyphus: Waiting Lists and Waiting Times in the Battle for Authority in the British NHS, 1974-2004’. This was her third consecutive year of presenting at the AAHM, which attracts around 300 historians. She used the transatlantic trip to spend two days at the American Hospital Association archives in Chicago on the way to Nashville.
Workshop at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, March 2017
On 23 March 2017 the project team took part in a workshop at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) – ‘Experts, Evidence and Involvement: Public Health and the NHS in Post-War Britain’ – organised by members of the Wellcome Trust funded project ‘Placing the Public in Public Health’, led by Dr Alex Mold. The team presented some of their work on health economists and management consultants and discussed issues around policy and public engagement with their LSHTM colleagues.
The History of the National Institute for Health Services Research [NIHR]
Dr Paul Atkinson joined the research group on 1 February 2017 to work with Sally Sheard (and Professor Tom Walley, Head of the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society), on an 18 month study of the origins and development of the NIHR. Paul’s background is in British health history, having previously worked at the Universities of Lancaster and Huddersfield. Prior to that Paul was a civil servant within the Department of Health. He has brought a valuable insight into Whitehall to the research group. The methodology for the NIHR history project is similar to that for the Governance of Health project, using oral history and archive analysis, and we expect the findings to be mutually beneficial.
Liverpool Student Radio, February 2017
Philip Begley appeared on the Politics Hour, a radio show organised by Politics students at the University of Liverpool, on 23 February 2017. He discussed the apparent sense of ‘crisis’ in the NHS, issues around its funding, public perception, and its potential future.
International Health Policy Conference, London School of Economics, February 2017
Eleanor Mackillop presented a paper titled ‘Quantifying Life: Understanding the Historical Emergence of Quality-Adjusted Life-Years (QALYs)’ at the inaugural International Health Policy Conference held at London School of Economics, 16-19 February 2017.
Contemporary British History Seminar, King’s College London, November 2016
Philip Begley gave a paper titled ‘Management Consultants and the National Health Service, 1948-2016’ to the Contemporary British History seminar at the Institute of Contemporary British History, King’s College London on 30 November 2016.
Witness Seminar on the 1974 NHS Reorganisation, November 2016
On 9 November 2016 the project team held a witness seminar in London on the 1974 reorganisation of the NHS: the first major shake-up of the service since its foundation in 1948, and the first to use external management consultancy through McKinsey & Co.
The event brought together representatives of the medical profession, civil service, government and McKinsey, to discuss how the reorganisation was planned and implemented, and its subsequent impact.
Participants included Dr Eric Caines and Dr John Marks, who both served on the Steering Committee which oversaw the production of Management Arrangements for the Reorganised National Health Service – the ‘Grey Book’ – which described in detail the functions of each tier (Area – Region – District) and the responsibilities of 27 roles in the new look NHS. It also outlined the philosophy of ‘consensus management’ which underpinned the new management arrangements at each level.
Dr Robert Maxwell, James Lee and Christopher Stewart-Smith worked as McKinsey consultants on the project. They discussed the firm’s role as well as their wider experiences with management consultancy and the NHS.
Professor Brian Edwards and Robert Nicholls described how as administrators on the ground they adapted to the new structures and how the new management arrangements worked in practice.
On the political side, Lord Owen, who became Minister of State at the Department of Health and Social Security in 1974, described how the then incoming Labour government had little choice but to continue with the reforms started by their Conservative predecessors. Lord Warner, who had been Assistant Private Secretary to Minister of Health Kenneth Robinson when reform first came on to the agenda in the late 1960s, also offered his reflections.
Sir Cyril Chantler, Dame Yvonne Moores and Professor Walter Holland gave the perspectives of senior doctors, nurses and academics, whilst Dr Geoffrey Rivett brought his huge experience as a GP, civil servant and historian of the NHS.
Professor Sally Sheard opened and closed the proceedings and the event was expertly chaired by Nick Timmins.
The audience, who also made many significant contributions, included leading academics, and former civil servants and health professionals. Guests included Sir David Nicholson (Chief Executive of the NHS, 2006-14), Nigel Edwards (Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust) and Frank Dobson (Secretary of State for Health, 1997-99).
It was widely agreed that reorganisation had been necessary. There was a need for greater integration in the early NHS, particularly between hospital and social care services, although some of the participants differed in their interpretations of what the driving motivation for reorganisation had been. Consensus management was thought to be a natural product of the time, and although it worked well in some areas, doubts were raised about it general effectiveness. Importantly, there was seeming unanimity on the question of whether the right lessons had been learned from the 1974 reorganisation – including the desirability of dictating from the centre - and whether or not the NHS has subsequently been reorganised too often.
A transcript of the event is available on the Witness Seminars page
Duncan Society Lecture, University of Liverpool, October 2016
On 26 October 2016 Sally Sheard gave the Duncan Society Public Lecture at the University of Liverpool. The Society, named for William Henry Duncan (1805-1863), the first Medical Officer of Health in England, aims to foster debate and improve public health for the people of Merseyside and Cheshire. Her subject was ‘Who Makes Health Policy? Medics, Economists and Managers in the Development of the NHS’.
Welcome to Wellcome Event, Wellcome Trust, September 2016
On 23 September 2016 members of the team attended the ‘Welcome to Wellcome’ event held at the Wellcome Trust. They joined researchers on other Wellcome funded projects and PhD students in hearing about the different opportunities and forms of support that are available. Issues such as career development were also discussed. The day provided a valuable opportunity to network and share experiences.
Society for Social Medicine Conference, University of York, September 2016
On 15 September 2016 members of the team joined with Professor Roberta Bivins from the University of Warwick to host a workshop at the annual meeting of the Society for Social Medicine. The theme of the workshop was ‘History and the NHS’. Eleanor MacKillop oversaw and introduced the event. Philip Begley discussed his research on the history of management consultants engaging with the NHS and invited the audience, which included academics and practitioners, to share their experiences. Professor Bivins spoke about the work of the Wellcome Trust funded ‘Cultural History of the NHS’ project at Warwick and asked the audience to reflect on what the NHS meant to them.
British Academy of Management Conference, University of Newcastle, September 2016
From 6-8 September 2016 the British Academy of Management held its annual conference in Newcastle. Philip Begley attended and presented a developmental paper titled ‘From Administration to Management? The Development of Authority in the British National Health Service’.
The Uses and Abuses of Quantification in Healthcare, University of Cambridge, July 2016
The ‘Limits of the Numerical’ project based at the Centre for research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge held a conference in July 2016 titled ‘The Uses and Abuses of Quantification in Healthcare: Interdisciplinary Perspectives’. Eleanor Mackillop presented her research on ‘Quantifying Life: Understanding the Historical Emergence of Quality Adjusted Life-Years (QALYs)’. The event brought together, among others, epidemiologists, statisticians, economists, and philosophers interested in issues of quantification in health.
Humanities and Social Science Investigator Award Celebratory Meeting, Wellcome Trust, July 2016
On 12 and 13 July 2016 members of the team attended a celebratory meeting organised by the Wellcome Trust, which brought together holders of their Humanities and Social Science Investigator Awards. The meeting provided a unique opportunity for Wellcome funded researchers to share their experiences. Sally Sheard spoke as part of a panel on ‘Health Policy and Practice Engagement’, discussing the opportunities for engagement with policymakers that her research has provided.
Society for Social History of Medicine Conference, University of Kent, July 2016
Sally Sheard presented a paper: ‘Health for all by the Year 2000: Contested Territorialities in the Shaping of European Health Policy’ at the biennial Society for Social History of Medicine conference, held at the University of Kent from 7-10 July 2016. The SSHM has accepted the proposal led by Sally Sheard to host the 2018 conference at the University of Liverpool.
Interpretive Policy Analysis Conference, University of Hull, July 2016
The annual Interpretative Policy Analysis conference took place in Hull from 5-7 July 2016. Eleanor MacKillop organised panels with Dr Jane Mulderrig from the University of Sheffield and Dr Laura Eyre from University College London under the theme ‘Health Policy Research: Theory and Method’. She also presented a paper titled ‘‘Surfers Waiting for the Right Wave’: Explaining the Emergence of Health Economics in the British Health Polity with Multiple Streams Analysis’.
Social Policy Association Conference, University of Ulster, July 2016
From 4-6 July 2016 the Social Policy Association held its annual conference in Belfast. Philip Begley attended and presented a paper titled ‘Management Consultants and the NHS: A Historical Perspective’, which traced the use of consultants in the NHS from the early 1950s to the present.
President Emeritus of the Milbank Memorial Fund visits IPHS
On 12th May 2016, Professor Dan Fox, President Emeritus of the Milbank Memorial Fund, visited the University of Liverpool at the invitation of Professor Sally Sheard.
Professor Fox has published extensively in health services research, health and social policy, law, medicine and history. He has served in three federal agencies, government in two states, and as a faculty member and administrator at Harvard and Stony Brook Universities.
His visit began with a two-hour workshop on research and policy impact. This brought together academics from a wide range of disciplines in Liverpool and other universities across the North West. Topics included quality in health care, particularly the elusiveness of the concept, and the role that different groups might play in defining it, power dynamics, performance management, and the difficulty of changing culture in health care.
As a member of the Wellcome Trust ‘Governance of Health’ project advisory board, Professor Fox also met with the team to discuss their work and made suggestions for future research.
Professor Fox then gave the inaugural the Frances Ivens lecture at the Liverpool Medical Institution with a talk entitled ‘Evidence and the Politics of Improving the Quality of Care’’, following a welcome from the university’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Janet Beer. Following a review of Ivens’ professional life as the first female surgeon in Liverpool in the early twentieth century and her use of evidence, Professor Fox discussed whether advances in the methodology of health policy-making had improved the efficiency and effectiveness of health care. His talk examined the different disciplines –medicine, epidemiology, economics – at play in defining effectiveness and efficiency, highlighting the importance of Archie Cochrane’s work on randomised control trials and Ian Chalmers’ and colleagues’ classic publication Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth. Nonetheless, political attitudes to evidence remain a barrier to progress. The research community still need to develop more effective strategies when seeking to bring evidence into health policy-making, Professor Fox argued.
The lecture was followed by a dinner hosted by the LMI.
Seminar at Harvard University, May 2016
Sally Sheard extended her US trip for the AAHM conference to conduct archive research in Chicago (American Hospitals Association) and Boston (Countway Library; papers of Francis Moore). She also gave a seminar in the Department for Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University: ‘Getting Better Faster: Clinico-Economic Reflections on Short Hospital Stays in the Twentieth Century’.
American Association for the History of Medicine Conference, Minneapolis, April 2016
From 28 April to 1 May 2016 the annual meeting of the American Association for the History of Medicine took place in Minneapolis. Sally Sheard attended and presented a paper titled ‘Getting Better, Faster: The Origins and Implications of Shorter Lengths of Stay in US Hospitals’. She also contributed to a lunchtime workshop on how historians can effectively engage with journalists.
Research Seminars on Hospital Length of Stay, March 2016
Sally Sheard gave seminar papers at the University of Lancaster and University of Cambridge in March 2016 on her research on hospital length of stay, which draws together the medical and managerialism strands of the Wellcome Trust project.
European Social Science History Conference, Valencia, March 2016
From 30 March to 2 April 2016 the biennial European Social Science History conference took place in Valencia. Sally Sheard attended and presented a paper titled ‘Transatlantic Drift: Recognition, Adoption and Manipulation of the New Language of Health Economics 1960s-1980s’.
Meeting of Wellcome Trust Projects, University of Warwick, February 2016
On 18 February 2016 the team joined members of other Wellcome Trust funded research projects at the University of Warwick. The meeting provided a valuable opportunity to share ideas and experiences.
The team outlined the approach of the ‘Governance of Health’ project and discussed their research so far. The Warwick team led by Dr Roberta Bivens and Professor Mathew Thomson described the scope of their important project ‘The Cultural History of the NHS’. Also present were members of the team from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine led by Dr Martin Gorsky, who explained the thinking behind their significant ‘Health Systems in History: Ideas, Comparisons, Policies’ project.
The group also discussed ways in which the different projects might be able to support one another and opportunities for future collaboration. We have since agreed to work together on a workshop entitled ‘History and the NHS’ at the Society for Social Medicine conference in September 2016.
Medicine, Markets and Morals workshop, Glasgow Caledonian University, February 2016
The second meeting of the Medicine, Markets and Morals network took place in Glasgow from 11-12 February 2016. Eleanor MacKillop presented a paper titled ‘Quantifying Quality of Life: Explaining the Origins of Quality Adjusted Life Years’.
First Project Advisory Group Meeting, Liverpool in London Campus, December 2015
On 3 December 2015 the project team met with the advisory group and discussed the development of their research to date and plans for the next twelve months.
Workshops on Policy Engagement and Impact, November 2015
Sally Sheard spoke about her Wellcome Trust research on health policy history and its potential for engaging with policymakers at a Policy Engagement Skills Training Workshop run by History and Policy for the ESRC White Rose DTP at the University of Sheffield on 4 November and at an Impact and Public Policy workshop, University of Liverpool on 16 November 2015. These sessions were designed for early career researchers.
Medicine, Markets and Morals network workshop, University of Birmingham, September, 2015.
Medicine, Markets and Morals network (MMM) is a multi-disciplinary research network on health and social care prioritisation and funding, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), led by Dr Lucy Frith (Liverpool) and Professor Cam Donaldson (Glasgow Caledonian University). Sally Sheard gave the opening talk on Historical Perspectives on Health Care Financing. View presentation.