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Evidence-based medicine meets democracy: the role of evidence-based public health guidelines in local government.

Kelly, MP; Atkins, L; Littleford, C; Leng, G; Michie, S; (2017) Evidence-based medicine meets democracy: the role of evidence-based public health guidelines in local government. J Public Health (Oxf) , 2017 pp. 1-7. 10.1093/pubmed/fdx002. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: In 2013, many public health functions transferred from the National Health Service to local government in England. From 2006 NICE had produced public health guidelines based on the principles of evidence-based medicine. This study explores how the guidelines were received in the new environment in local government and related issues raised relating to the use of evidence in local authoritites. METHODS: In depth, interviews with 31 elected members and officers, including Directors of Public Health, from four very different local government organizations (‘local authorities’). RESULTS: Participants reported that (i) there were tensions between evidence-based, and political decision-making; (ii) there were differences in views about what constituted ‘good’ evidence and (iii) that organizational life is an important mediator in the way evidence is used. CONCLUSIONS: Democratic political decision-making does not necessarily naturally align with decision-making based on evidence from the international scientific literature, and local knowledge and local evidence are very important in the ways that public health decisions are made.

Type: Article
Title: Evidence-based medicine meets democracy: the role of evidence-based public health guidelines in local government.
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx002
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdx002
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
Keywords: communities, methods, organizations, evidence-based medicine, decision making, democracy, local government, guidelines, public health medicine, evidence-based practice, National Health Service (UK)
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1542874
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