A focus on quality : improving health care in Scotland / [Scottish Executive Health Department].

  • Scotland. Health Department.
Date:
2001
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: A focus on quality : improving health care in Scotland / [Scottish Executive Health Department]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SNAP's programme and strategy is managed by the SNAP Core Group, which consists of the leaders of each of the networks and representatives from academic public health and the Directors of Public Health Group. Network members contribute the main resources (time and expertise) required to produce a SNAP report and in this sense Health Boards and other organisations are the main contributors to SNAP. SNAP negotiates its programme of work on an annual basis with the Scottish Executive Health Department, and consults with Health Board departments of public health to determine which topics they feel SNAP should address. When the Core Group has agreed the work programme, individual consultants in public health medicine in Health Boards are identified to take the lead on a particular topic. They also have responsibility for taking this forward with other relevant health professionals and users of the service. All reports are produced with the support of the SNAP Secretariat. Under a public health umbrella, there is a wide range of contributors and the mix for each report depends on the nature and impacts of the topic. The disciplines of epidemiology, demography, statistics, health promotion, social science, health economics, health service management and the voluntary sector regularly combine to create a public health perspective. SNAP recognises that improving the quality of future work depends on the involvement of key groups outside service public health medicine. Each report should contain sections on: e the epidemiology of specific diseases and their impact on health, disease and need for services e an evaluation of current interventions from prevention through to rehabilitation or continuing care current provision of interventions including content and coverage an economic appraisal patient satisfaction and consumer views implications and recommendations for HIPS and the commissioning of health services. The SNAP Editorial Committee and the Directors of Public Health Group review all drafts to guarantee a consistent level of quality guidelines for reports. During the course of the programme it has become clear that there is no single best method of assessing health needs: different issues and questions require different methods, approaches and degrees of detail. Because the epidemiology of risk factors is complex - and the fact that many exist outside the NHS - the evidence base for associations and for the effectiveness of interventions is necessarily less than that for clinical interventions that can be subjected to rigorous experimental trials. This creates a methodological challenge that is addressed by the Editorial Group and by occasional research projects associated with SNAP. 87