Date/Time
Date(s) - Thu 4 December
11:00 - 12:00
Location
Nordmeyer Lecture Theatre, Uni of Otago, Wellington
Presented by Professor Vikki Entwistle, School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland
In efforts to improve healthcare, questions about whether and to what extent interventions ‘work’ to bring about intended changes rightly receive critical attention. Questions about why particular changes should count as improvements and be prioritised for action are sometimes less robustly examined. Drawing on learning from the ‘But why is that better?’ project, this lecture will examine the value judgements that are often implicit in claims about, and activity to improve, healthcare ‘quality’ and its ‘dimensions’ (e.g., safety, effectiveness, person-centredness, efficiency and equity). Professor Entwistle will illustrate how these concepts tend to be reduced in healthcare policy and improvement work and will discuss the need and potential to retain scope for the influence of more open-ended ideas about ‘good’ healthcare, including to accommodate different perspectives.
‘But why is that better?’ was a five-year Collaborative Award from the Wellcome Trust to Professor Alan Cribb (King’s College London) and Professor Vikki Entwistle (University of Aberdeen). Dr Polly Mitchell (research fellow, King’s College London) also contributed substantially to the project.
View project publications to date (under ‘Activity’)
A book, Rethinking healthcare improvement: philosophy and ethics in practice is forthcoming from Bloomsbury.
Professor Vikki Entwistle is an interdisciplinary scholar who uses philosophy and social research to understand and address concerns about quality, ethics and social justice in healthcare, public health and care of the dead and bereaved. She is currently Professor in Health Services Research and Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, where she contributes to research and teaching across health sciences, social sciences and arts and humanities domains. Recent projects include ‘But why is that better? An investigation of what philosophy and applied ethics can contribute to healthcare improvement’ and ‘Care in Funerals: developing a practical ethics of care for the dead and bereaved’ funded respectively by the Wellcome Trust and the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council. When not at work, Vikki enjoys walking and volunteering on a local nature reserve.
Zoom details
Zoom link: https://otago.zoom.us/j/96226091178?pwd=fbLULBZgimzEGGW9WfpHXrmumen4uC.1
Meeting ID: 962 2609 1178
Password: 358841