Healthcare and Communities
Policy drivers
With public health transferring into local government,
there are new opportunities to bring together the social
and medical models for public health improvement. M·E·L
Research's long history in public health stems back to pioneering
research in the late 1980s on Healthy Cities and Health for All
2000 initiatives. For over 20 years we have researched the need to
combine action on healthier lifestyles, with action on the
wider determinants of health (such as housing, poverty, transport,
jobs) which the Marmot Report rightly states are required to
improve health and wellbeing, and reduce health
inequalities. Our 10 year corporate membership of the UKPHA,
and regular contributions to the annual conference, provide
testimony to our commitment to innovation in public
health research.
Integrated into local government, public health now
has new opportunities to bring together the social and
environmental determinants of health more tightly than ever before.
Our recent Health Impact Assessment in an area-based housing
regeneration project for Blackburn with Darwen Council, illustrates
the potential.
However it will be equally vital to maintain progress in
key lifestyle areas - such as alcohol, substance misuse, healthy
eating and physical activity, linked to the new DH 'life stages'
segmentations. M·E·L Research has over 20 years' experience in
pioneering healthy lifestyle research, from innovative alcohol
diaries, to a recent major survey of mental wellbeing in
Coventry which Warwick University used to demonstrate their WEMWBS
scores. We also have longstanding experience in developing and
evaluating Workplace Health Initiatives, another potential
area of growth under the new administration. Reecent projects on
cancer awareness include CAM evaluation surveys and screening
uptake evaluation.
Meanwhile, it is vital that sound social research evidence is
built into the enhanced Joint Strategic Needs Assessments to
guide clinician-led commissioning and Health and Wellbeing
Boards. M·E·L Research is a Framework Contractor for the NHS
Institute for Innovation and Improvement, and has evaluated GP
Out-of-Hours services, and undertaken consultation on service
reconfiguration ranging from reducing pressures on A&E
services in Dudley, to work commissioned by the NHSI on evaluating
decisionmaking toolkits. We also have a longstanding specialist
expertise in researching consumer views of community pharmacy
services, having been commissioned jointly with Aston University
School of Pharmacy to carry out the UK's first DH funded national
consumer expectations survey and subsequent patient and consumer
evaluations of pharmacy-based healthcare interventions.
Our expertise
- Healthy lifestyles research
- Social marketing impact analysis
- Behaviour change project evaluation
- Cancer Awareness Measure (CAM)
- Social Return on Investment
(SROI)
- Health Impact Assessment (HIA)
- Service user consultation
- Community pharmacy intervention research
- Service change and reconfiguration formal consultation
Case Studies
Alcohol
Prevalence Research
Alcohol
Use in Asian Communities
Birmingham Migrants
Health review
Cancer
Awareness Measure survey
Coventry Healthy
Lifestyles Evaluation
Dudley A&E
Consultation
NHSI
Analytical Tool Evaluation
Review of
Maternity Services
Workforce Health
Initiative Evaluation
Account Manager: Ellie Ahmed
For further information on any of our Healthcare and Communities
services or to speak to someone informally about your requirements,
contact Ellie Ahmed (0121 604 4664)
Team: Click here to see
our team structure