Development of Health Economics education (HEe) website

1. Development of Health Economics education (HEe) website Emma Frew, Hema Mistry, Raymond Oppong DEE Conference, London School of Economics 6th September 2011

2. Objectives • Originally developed by Prof. Nancy Devlin to • encourage and support teaching and learning in health economics; • create a community of health economics teachers; and • promote health economics to potential students. • In January 2010, the HEU at Birmingham took over the responsibility of managing and updating the website

3. Funding • Our project successfully gained funding for two projects: • to support Advisory Board meetings • The funding supports the travelling expenses of board members • to support audiovisual resources • Funding for 6 interviews with health economists

4. Advisory Group • Aims of advisory group: • guide the development of HEe; • ensure adequate representation of all types of teaching (undergrad, postgrad, DL); • act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the website (all website activities are responsive to relevant events and opportunities). • 9 individuals ensuring representation from the Economics Network, active teachers of HE and HESG. • Two meetings: September 2010 & August 2011.

5. Advisory Group (2) • Two very productive meetings: • terms of reference agreed • agreed target Audience • 1. Student section (courses, careers) • 2. Teacher section (effective delivery of teaching, reading lists etc) • audio-visual project • marketing (launching the website) • funding opportunities to ensure sustainability of website

6. Student section (1) • Information on the type of HE courses that are available across the UK – short courses, post-graduate taught (e.g. MSc, DL) and research (e.g. PhDs) • Course directors invited to submit information advertising their course (email invitation) • Paragraph with details including: • Course description, links, target student population, strengths, why course different.

7. Student section (2) • Different careers a HE can choose: • Academic, Government, NHS, NICE, Consultancy, Pharmaceutical • Pathways – this will help with the selection of ‘best’ course • ‘Blog’ from a HE telling us about roles and responsibilities (questionnaire) • Day in the life of a ‘HE’ • Careers section linked back to courses

8. Student section – progress • Identified all known HE courses • Postgraduate research (PhDs); Postgraduate taught (MSc, DL); Short courses • 49 emails sent to HE course directors • 8 responses about course description • Postgraduate (taught and research) courses and short courses. • Added section on doctoral seminars • Virtual research seminars showing work-in-progress connected via BT web conferencing • To interact with other PhD students without the additional travel expenses • Run by HERG, Brunel University

9. Teacher section • Aim to enhance teaching (rather than list of slides) • Advice on how to teach ‘tricky’ topics • How the advice might differ depending on target audience • Examples of practical exercises • Reading lists • Aim is to have a ‘virtual’ colleague available to provide teaching advice to junior colleagues

10. Teacher section - progress • Compiled reading list • Undergraduate and postgraduate introductory material as well as specific postgraduate topics. • Request for teaching material sent to 49 course directors • 4 responses provided teaching material • We have identified teaching material that needs updating • For the teacher section we will categorise by topic area: • Introduction to HE; Economic Evaluation; Health Policy; Health Systems; Health Econometrics; Equity; Demand for Health & Healthcare; Market Failure; Rationing; Global Health & Trade; and Behavioural Economics

11. Audio-visual project • Stimulate students’ interest in HE, and make key contributions to HE research accessible to a wider audience • Aim is to produce a series of high-quality audio-visual resources, presenting contemporary HE issues and topics in an interesting & visually appealing way • The series will be based on a series of recorded interviews with leading HE • The interviews will be available as downloadable podcasts on the HEe website

12. Audio-visual project • Funding for 6 interviews • Semi-structured with starting points agreed beforehand • Interviewees have final editing rights • 8 interviews completed so far (next slide) • In addition, a policy debate filmed as part of the Policy module on the MSc • Dr Ken Deacon (GP and PCT Medical Director); Robert White (Finance Director); Prof Clive Smee (Former chief economist for DH); Dr Kirsten Major (chief economist for North West NHS)

13. Audio-visual project (3) • Prof Jo Coast (Birmingham) - on website • Possible disutility associated with explicit health care rationing • The economics of anti-microbial resistance • Prof Cam Donaldson (Glasgow) • Social Business and Health • Prof John Appleby (Kings Fund) • GP Commissioning • Dr Tessa Peasgood (Sheffield) • Economics of Happiness/Wellbeing • Dr Matt Stevenson (Sheffield) • Modelling • Prof Mark Sculpher (York) • Economic evaluation and decision making • Dr Karen Bloor (York) • Medical labour markets • Prof Alan Maynard (York) • NHS reforms and GP commissioning

14. Next steps (1) • Follow up emails sent to course directors • Request course information • Request teaching aids and slides • In addition, request for updated teaching slides from those who have already contributed • To help redesign the website (similar style to BBC website showing visually appealing snippets) • Teaching and student sections • To get a template set up for the student section on the website to upload info. • To update the website with additional teaching material i.e. reading lists

15. Next steps (2) • To find out what information is missing and to fill in the gaps e.g. a podcast on health econometrics • Working group meeting for 7th Sept to assign new tasks & responsibilities for different sections of the website • Marketing / launch of the website • Funding opportunities to ensure sustainability of website