ALLOCATING RESOURCES: COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IS NOT EASY
✍ Scribed by RACHEL RICHARDSON; CATRIONA WADDINGTON
- Book ID
- 102660228
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 571 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0749-6753
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Resources for health care are limited in all societies; decisions have to be made about who gets what health care. A case study is discussed. Jaymee Bowen was a British child whose Health Authority refused to provide free treatment for her advanced leukaemia. The media advertised her case and public opinion was mobilized in favour of treating her with public funds. Costeffectiveness can be used to identify treatments that provide value-for-money. The public can express an opinion on what kinds of care are wanted-for example, what are the relative benefits of preventing morbidity or mortality, or of helping children rather than young people?
Rational criteria can be developed with public involvement-in the case of Jaymee Bowen, the proposed treatment really did not appear to offer value-for-money. But some individual cases that contradict the 'rational' criteria for the population as a whole will always be able to attract public sympathy and interest.
KEY WORDS community participation; health; resource allocation
'There were in fact two strands to the debate, one about quality of life and one about value for money. This paper concentrates on the latter.