Professor Iestyn Williams

Iestyn Williams

Health Services Management Centre
Professor of Health Policy and Management
Director of Research in HSMC

Contact details

Telephone
+44(0)121 414 7063
Email
i.p.williams@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Social Policy, HSMC
Park House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2RT

Iestyn is a Professor of Health Policy and Management and Director of Research for the School of Social Policy. He is involved in a range of research, teaching and knowledge transfer work and has a broad methodological experience and expertise. He specialises in social science approaches to Health Services Research, employing mixed methods study designs. He has specific expertise in: priority setting, decision making and decommissioning in health care; strategic planning and decision making; implementation studies, and; qualitative evidence synthesis and reporting.

Qualifications

His main qualifications are:

  • PhD Health Care Policy and Management, University of Birmingham (2009)
  • MPhil Cultural Studies and Sociology, University of Birmingham (2002)
  • BSocSc (1st) Media, Culture and Society, University of Birmingham (1995)

Biography

Iestyn's academic background is in Sociology which he studied at undergraduate and postgraduate level at the University of Birmingham. Before joining HSMC, Iestyn worked in NHS management and prior to this spent five years in research and service development in the third sector. 

Current and recent projects 

  • A national study into decommissioning in health care (funded by the National Institute for Health Research)
  • A national study into publication bias in health services delivery research (funded by the National Institute for Health Research and led by Warwick University)
  • An investigation of capital spending in NHS organisations (funded by the Health Foundation)

Postgraduate supervision

Iestyn welcomes PhD proposals on the following themes:

  • Priority setting, decision making and decommissioning

  • Health care change and improvement

  • Social science methods in health services research

Research

Research Projects

  • A Multicentre Study to Investigate Feasibility of a Protocol-Driven Multidisciplinary Service Model to Tackle ‘Spurious Penicillin Allergy’ in Secondary Care (National Institute for Health Research HS&DR), CI, £800k (2020-2023)
  • Inter-CEPt: Intervening to eliminate the centre effect variation in home dialysis use. (National Institute for Health Research HS&DR), CI, £1,110k (2020-2023)
  • NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC). West Midlands, Theme 1: long term conditions. CI, £9m (2019-2026)
  • Health policy and civil unrest – an analysis of the global archive of news reports (Universities of Illinois and Birmingham BRIDGE Seed Fund) PI, £10k (2019)

Other activities

  • Member of the Council of Governors, University Hospitals Birmingham
  • Secretary, International Society for Priorities in Health
  • Associate Editor Journal of Health Organisation and Managemet
  • External Examiner City University London
  • External examiner Alliance Manchester Business School

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Glynn, J, Jones, T, Bell, M, Blazeby, J, Burton, C, Conefrey, C, Donovan, JL, Farrar, N, Morley, J, McNair, A, Owen-Smith, A, Rule, E, Thornton, G, Tucker, V, Williams, I, Rooshenas, L, Hollingworth, W & Mabunda, DHP (ed.) 2023, 'Did the evidence-based intervention (EBI) programme reduce inappropriate procedures, lessen unwarranted variation or lead to spill-over effects in the National Health Service?', PLOS One, vol. 18, no. 9, e0290996. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290996

Smith, C & Williams, I 2023, 'The Pervasiveness of Power: Dilemmas for Researchers of Major System Change in Healthcare: Comment on ““Attending to History” in Major Systems Change in Healthcare in England: Specialist Cancer Surgery Service Reconfiguration”', International Journal of Health Policy and Management. https://doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2023.7639

Tshimologo, M, Allen, K, Coyle, D, Damery, S, Dikomitis, L, Fotheringham, J, Hill, H, Lambie, M, Phillips-Darby, L, Solis-Trapala, I, Williams, I & J Davies, S 2022, 'Intervening to eliminate the centre-effect variation in home dialysis use: protocol for Inter-CEPt—a sequential mixed-methods study designing an intervention bundle', BMJ open, vol. 12, no. 6, e060922. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-060922

Burn, E, Tattarini, G, Williams, I, Lombi, L & Gale, N 2022, 'Women's experience of depressive symptoms while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from an international web survey', Frontiers in Sociology, vol. 7, 763088. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2022.763088

Davidson, D, Williams, I, Glasby, J & Ellis Paine, A 2022, '‘Localism and intimacy, and... other rather imponderable reasons of that sort’: a qualitative study of patient experience of community hospitals in England', Health and Social Care in the Community, pp. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.14083

Krishna, MT, Vedanthan, PK, Vedanthan, R, El Shabrawy, RM, Madhan, R, Nguyen, HL, Kudagammana, T, Williams, I, Karmacharya, B, Hariharan, S, Krishnamurthy, K, Sumantri, S, Elliott, R, Mahesh, PA & Marriott, JF 2021, 'Is spurious penicillin allergy a major public health concern only in high-income countries?', BMJ Global Health, vol. 6, no. 5, e005437. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005437

Williams, I, Harlock, J, Robert, G, Kimberly, J & Mannion, R 2021, 'Is the end in sight? A study of how and why services are decommissioned in the English National Health Service', Sociology of Health and Illness, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 441-458. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.13234

Ayorinde, AA, Williams, I, Mannion, R, Song, F, Skrybant, M, Lilford, R & Chen, Y 2020, 'Publication and related biases in health services research: a systematic review of empirical evidence', BMC Medical Research Methodology, vol. 20, no. 1, 137. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-020-01010-1

Omoniyi, OS & Williams, I 2020, 'Realist Synthesis of the International Theory and Evidence on Strategies to Improve Childhood Vaccination in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Developing Strategies for the Nigerian Healthcare System', International Journal of Health Policy and Management , vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 274-285. https://doi.org/10.15171/IJHPM.2019.120

Williams, I, Ayorinde, AA, Mannion, R, Skrybant, M, Song, F, Lilford, RJ & Chen, Y-F 2020, 'Stakeholder views on publication bias in health services research', Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 162-171. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819620902185

Chapter

Williams, I & Mannion, R 2022, De-implementation. in F Rapport, R Clay-Williams & J Braithwaite (eds), Implementation Science: the key concepts. 1st edn, Routledge Key Guides, Routledge, pp. 209-212. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003109945-64

Comment/debate

Williams, I, Essue, B, Nouvet, E, Sandman, L, Razavi, D, Noorulhuda, M, Goold, S, Danis, M, Biemba, G, Abelson, J & Kapiriri, L 2021, 'Priority setting during the COVID-19 pandemic: going beyond vaccines', BMJ Global Health, vol. 6, no. 1, e004686. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2020-004686

Commissioned report

Ayorinde, AA, Williams, I, Mannion, R, Song, F, Skrybant, M, Lilford, R & Chen, Y 2020, Publication and related bias in quantitative health services and delivery research: a multimethod study. Health Services and Delivery Research, no. 33, vol. 8, National Institute for Health Research. https://doi.org/10.3310/hsdr08330

Conference contribution

Williams, I, Allen, K & Damery, S 2023, Developing an intervention bundle to increase equity and uptake in the use of home dialysis: a mixed method study in the English NHS. in Health Services Research UK.

Paper

Allen, K, Shaw, K, Spry, J, Damery, S, Williams, I & Dikomitis, L 2023, 'Culture and trust in renal centres: ethnographic findings to support person-centred dialysis choice', Paper presented at BSA Medical Sociology Study Group Annual Conference 2023, Sussex, United Kingdom, 11/09/23 - 13/09/23.

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

  • Setting priorities in health care
  • involving citizens and the public in health and social care decisions
  • the challenges of removing or replacing health care services and organisations
  • the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
  • Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)
  • Health Care Commissioning