Mind the gap: bridging healthcare management and research

The College of Social Sciences is delighted to invite you to the inaugural lecture of Professor Judith Smith, Professor of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Health Services Management Centre here at the University of Birmingham, on Tuesday 3 May at 17:00. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception and canapes. 

The NHS is one of the largest and most complex publicly funded health systems in the world, yet is relatively under-managed by international comparisons. Its senior management community faces pressure to deliver major changes to how health services are delivered, and is characterised by rapid turnover, low public and political esteem, and calls from the academic community to adopt a more evidence-based approach.

In parallel, the UK has the second largest health services research community in the world, with funding available for extensive programmes of academic endeavour that seek to inform, support and improve the quality of health care delivery and organisation. Large numbers of health services research reports and academic papers are published in the UK each year, yet evidence of real impact in respect of healthcare managers being aware of and using the findings to inform their management practice remains limited.

In this lecture, Professor Smith will use research evidence to examine what she argues to be the relatively separate and insular worlds of healthcare management and research, identifying their distinctive professional and cultural features. She will use this analysis to explore the ways in which healthcare management and research can be drawn more closely together to mutual benefit, using examples from emerging UK and international evidence and best practice, and from her own experience of working in healthcare management, policy and research.

To register for this event, please click here.