When people ask me my educational background I tend to get embarrassed. Not because of the class of my degree or the university, but because the link between being a specialist in medieval history and making 21st century health policy is not immediately obvious. In over seven years at the Department of Health working on policies such as Payment by Results and the Healthcare for London Review, I have learnt a huge amount about policy-making on the job, but I still have no formal qualification.
It is why I believe that the launch of an MSc in Health Policy at Imperial College is hugely important. Whilst there are more and more qualifications in the health sector to facilitate new roles such as advanced nurse practitioners, there has not been a qualification for the people charged with spending £100 billion of taxpayer’s money and creating an environment for the world’s fourth largest employer to effectively treat the sick.
Imperial’s two-year part time Master’s course is aimed at people who want to develop their health policy-making skills. Module leads include eminent figures such as former-Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson and health economist Professor Pete Smith. The entire course is under the auspices of Lord Darzi, surgeon turned health policy-maker.
Teaching is organised into four two-week blocks to give some concentrated study time, whilst also making the course accessible to participants from abroad. Healthcare systems across the world share the same challenge of unsustainable increases in demand and cost, so it would be good if they could pool knowledge and share some of the solutions too. If course participants come from a range of countries, it will enhance learning.
I also hope that we will get several clinicians on the course. Policy is always better informed if the healthcare professions are involved in its design, so why not have more clinicians becoming policy specialists? Why settle for helping one patient at a time, when you can use your knowledge to develop policies that will benefit millions? If that appeals to you, and you are interested in becoming part of the first cohort, starting in November 2011, then check-out the course brochure at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/globalhealthpolicy/courses/mschealthpolicy
