The Health Foundation's Policy Intern Hanan Burale reflects on the value of attending #HSRUK23 as an early career researcher and the key takeaways from some of her favourite presentations at the conference...
From clinic to classroom to conference
An early career researcher’s journey through the world of health policy
Working in a hospital as an ophthalmic technician (particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic) marked the beginning of my journey into health policy. I saw first-hand the challenges facing the health system - from long waiting lists for elective cataract surgery to elderly patients having trouble with transport to appointments.
Whenever I asked colleagues and decision-makers why these issues persisted across the National Health Service, I quickly realised there were no easy answers to the complex issues facing the healthcare system. Was it a lack of funding? Was it poor communication across services? Was it a combination of many things? Seeing injustices in healthcare also made me passionate about addressing health inequalities affecting marginalised communities, particularly being a black Muslim woman myself.
The need to address challenges in the NHS pulled me towards a masters in Population Health at University College London. Afterwards, I was fortunate to land a role as a health policy intern at The Health Foundation. I’ve learnt more about the immense challenges facing the NHS and social care sector, particularly after many years of austerity and a global pandemic.
Starting out in the world of health policy and research, especially at a time of major challenge for services, can feel intimidating – everything feels new. That’s why attending the HSR UK conference in Birmingham this year was so valuable. I was impressed with the passion of the researchers and diversity of work presented across the oral presentations, academic posters, and workshops.
There were many excellent examples of research presented at the conference, but three themes in particular stood out to me.
Accessibility – how can services become more inclusive?
Vulnerable communities are more likely to struggle with accessing essential services. Coming from a migrant background, it was extremely difficult to access services for family members who were not fluent in English. As a result, their healthcare needs were neglected or not met. Research from the ‘Coronavirus Chronic Conditions and Disabilities Awareness Study’ (CICADA) presented at the HSR UK conference found ethnic minority people with complex health needs struggling to access their GPs online in England. It was heartening to see research that reflect my own personal experiences.
From a policy perspective, it is evident that there needs to be an increase in public engagement work. The pandemic highlighted that ethnic minority people were at a greater risk of infection, but this inequality did not appear overnight. A key theme from CICADA and other work at the HSR UK conference was the importance of targeted and culturally competent interventions being implemented so marginalised communities are not left behind in the future.
View the CICADA team's #HSRUK23 presentation here.
Culturally competent public engagement – how can you engage communities that have traditionally been overlooked?
The conference really showcased the beauty of qualitative research in uncovering a layer of depth that quantitative approaches sometimes miss. The CICADA research group have also developed a toolkit focussing on the importance of promoting cultural integrity and linguistic appropriateness (such as providing prayer spaces) within community engagement. Whilst it feels like it’s long overdue, it was refreshing to see efforts within the research community to improve on previous engagement methods.
Colleagues working at the not-for-profit organisation VOCAL developed a community-orientated method of pursuing research which focuses on collaboration. One of their projects in Wythenshawe saw community members and artists help facilitate workshops to creatively raise awareness of various lung conditions. This has significantly increased awareness across the region, with participants providing ongoing advice to researchers. This research is highly accessible and provides practical guidance on how to engage communities so members can be active participants in promoting health and wellbeing.
Implementation – where do we go from here?
As my work at The Health Foundation focuses on health and social care policy, I found myself reflecting on how the great work done within the research community translates into policy. As I’ve been learning over the past few months, it certainly is not straightforward. It is often difficult to predict whether changes in policy will have the desired effects. Work by Leah McLaughlin and colleagues shows the importance of research to evaluate policy decisions. This work looked at the impact of shifting to an ‘opt-out’ rather than an ‘opt-in’ system for organ donation in the UK from May 2020. The research found that implementation of the ‘opt-out’ system made the process more confusing for the general public, which is at odds with the aim of the policy. This highlights how successful implementation goes beyond just changing practice. Organisations like HSR UK are a great resource for policymakers to use for finding evidence to inform policy decision-making.
The beginning of my journey stared with me asking ‘why’. I’ve shifted into pondering the ‘how’ of tackling the issues I care about. There is an abundance of evidence which points described the problem, but how do use the knowledge gained to improving services? And more importantly, how do we involve the public in a meaningful and impactful way within the development of policies to improve healthcare services?
If you would like to submit an abstract for #HSRUK24, please apply here before January 2024. Further information on conference registration for 2024 will follow shortly!