Who are we?
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in the Economics of Health Systems and Interface with Social Care (ESHCRU II) is part of the NIHR. It is hosted by the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics and Political Science. ESHCRU II builds on the research and expertise of ESHCRU which ran from 2010 to 2018.
NIHR PRUs are composed of experts and researchers who undertake health and social care policy research to inform policy decision makers. The NIHR has awarded £75 million over five years to 15 PRUs across England that provide evidence to respond to new and emerging policy needs. The PRUs are complemented by the NIHR Reviews Facility and the Call-off Analytical Facility (PREPARE).
We are health and social care economists. Meet the team
What's our aim?
The overarching aim is to inform and guide policy-making in the health and social care sectors.
Policy-making in the health and social care sectors aims to improve people’s health and wellbeing. Policy makers must treat people fairly, regardless of their background or where they live, and ensure they secure value-for-money for the tax payer. It is important that decisions are informed by high quality research evidence.
Our special focus is on the interactions between the health and social care systems and the cross-cutting issues facing both sectors. Our research helps ensure that policies are designed to take full account of the impact on patients, families and citizens across the entire health and care landscape, rather than focusing on the effect in one sector in isolation.
Our research
We undertake robust and policy-relevant research, based on the discipline of economics.
Economics is about how to use scarce resources – like staff, buildings and equipment – to achieve particular objectives. ESHCRU II uses economics to help to tackle problems in health and social care. We mainly work with data and numbers (quantitative): we link and carefully analyse large datasets, review existing studies, and use other techniques such as surveys.
We use state-of-the-art tools of economic and statistical analysis to address important policy questions about the funding, organisation and delivery of health and social care services.
Our five-year programme of work covers three broad areas.
- Understanding changes in the demand for health and social care from different population groups and the implications for how health and care services are provided and funded.
- Measuring what is being delivered for the money spent on health and social care to maximise quality of care and improvements in health and wellbeing.
- Designing the organisation of health and care systems to make the best use of resources to deliver joined-up care for the population.
Jargon Buster
We have compiled a helpful list of jargon busting terms and definitions to help visitors decipher all the terminology used on the website. View the jargon buster.
Meet the team
We are health and social care economists from the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) at the University of York and the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
