La fabrique des politiques de santé

Historical & Contemporary Perspectives on Medical, Managerial and Economic Influence on Health Policy-Making

Call for Papers

The Governance of Health Conference 2017

10-12 July 2017

At the Liverpool Medical Institution (LMI), 114 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool, United Kingdom

The second half of the twentieth century witnessed a sea change in approaches to health policy making. In many health systems, there had been heavy reliance on the involvement of the medical profession through their representative bodies and advisory committees. In more recent decades, new sources of expertise have influenced the process. Individual special advisers have improved the technical expertise available to government ministers, and their number has steadily increased. Two new groups in particular have been brought into the process: management consultants and health economists. However, we still appear to know relatively little about what their real impact on health policymaking has been.

This conference will bring together academics, politicians, civil servants, and medical professionals to discuss these and other issues, historical and contemporary.

Proposals are invited for papers which consider any aspect of health policymaking, but we particularly aim to encourage debate in the following areas:

• Medical expertise, clinical autonomy and the role of the professions
• Economic expertise and the impact of Health Economics
• Managerial expertise and the role of management consultants
• Special Advisers and the relationship between politicians and experts
• The role of think tanks
• Reorganisation and reform in healthcare
• Analysis of health systems
• Theories of policymaking and health
• International and comparative perspectives on health policymaking

We welcome proposals for individual papers (please submit an abstract of 300 words) and panels (please submit an outline of 200 words).

Please submit proposals by 29 January 2017 to GoH2017@liverpool.ac.uk

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

Rt. Hon. Frank Dobson, Former Secretary of State for Health (1997-99)

Frank Dobson was Labour Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras (1979-2015) and Secretary of State for Health (1997-1999). He oversaw the creation of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).

Scott Greer, Ph.D. 

Scott Greer is Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the politics of health policy, with a special interest in the European Union. He also holds a post of Senior Expert Advisor on Health Governance for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

This conference is organisged in collaboration with History and Policy and forms part of the Wellcome Trust funded project 'The Governance of Health: Medical, Economic and Managerial Expertise in Britain since 1948' based at the University of Liverpool. For more information on the project, please visit The Governance of Health website.

Enquiries: GoH2017@liverpool.ac.uk