DG HEALTH
Health Analytical Services Division
Economists within Health Analytical Services Division (ASD) are part of the Health Finance Directorate, and work together with statisticians and social researchers within the Division to provide an integrated analytical resource for all of the Health Directorates.
The key objectives of Analytical Services Division are to:
- Support policy development, implementation and evaluation by providing appropriate and relevant evidence, advice and analysis through an integrated analytical approach
- Provide analytical support in the measurement and reporting of the performance of health and community care services
- Work closely with Information Services (ISD Scotland), other NHS organisations and local authorities to ensure the availability and application of high quality information
The Division is structured around five analytical teams to address the department's key priorities:
- Public Health (health improvement, mental health, public health)
- Care (primary and community care, joint future, healthcare planning and strategy)
- Efficiency and Resources (resource allocation, expenditure, costs, efficiency and productivity)
- Workforce and Pay ( workforce planning, pay modelling, benefits realisation)
- Delivery Directorate Analysis Team ( HEAT IT system for Board performance, Local Delivery Plans, waiting times)
- Economists are based within the Efficiency and Resources, Workforce and Pay and the Public Health teams, and provide some input into the work of the Care team.
The Efficiency and Resources team provides analytical support for the resource allocation formula and to contribute to the delivery of SGHD's objectives of ensuring and demonstrating efficiency within the NHS in Scotland. In particular, key work streams involve advising on resource allocation issues, including in the recent past support to the NHS Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) and ongoing work on the implementation of the new formula; advising the Efficiency and Productivity Steering Group on measures and tools which can assist with improving efficiency; continuing to develop the national tariffs for cross-boundary activity including work on improving a range of data sources including the Cost Book and wider financial statistics; and the measurement of output and productivity within the health sector in Scotland, as part of the Atkinson programme of work.
Within the Care team economists provide analysis to support the use of the Scottish Allocation Formula, have worked on the measurement of output and productivity within the social care sectors as part of the Atkinson programme and have contributed to the evaluation of the impact of free personal care.
In the Public Health team, economists have been involved in the analysis required to support policy development on the areas of smoking, alcohol and obesity; in particular, Regulatory Impact Assessments have been developed for revised legislation on smoking and alcohol, and a range of analytic work has been undertaken to support the alcohol strategy including input to the Monitoring and Evaluation Reference Group on Alcohol (MERGA). They also contributed to an analytic paper on the contribution of Healthy Life Expectancy to achieving the Scottish Government's purpose. Economists in this team provide advice to the Capital Investment Group on business cases in accordance with Green Book principles. They have also been involved in advising on evaluation of major sporting events including 2014 Commonwealth Games.
In the Workforce and Pay team economists provide effective and comprehensive workforce planning across all parts of the NHS in Scotland, analyse the impact of new pay modernisation contracts and work with statisticians on providing analysis to support pay negotiations for the range of staff groups in the NHS.
In all these areas we work closely with policy colleagues in the development and evaluation of policy, and in developing the evidence base in order to inform this interaction.