HPPN Spring Event 2026 – FINAL programmeDownload Call for Abstracts (CLOSED) We invite submissions of abstracts (up to 500 words) on any topic related to health politics, policy or management…

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Submit your paper You are invited to submit a paper for the Organisational Behaviour in Health Care (OBHC) Conference 2026. The conference will be jointly hosted by Saïd Business School and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. Theme: Organising sustainable health and care. Previous conferences have explored a range of pressing issues, including adapting to and resisting policy and organisational change, innovation and transformation, and the dynamics of power, leadership, and culture.

The successful candidate will be expected to be a highly experienced qualitative researcher who is able to work independently while also working alongside experienced colleagues and with shared responsibility for managing the project.

By Nour Al Quraan I was delighted to attend the HPPN Spring Event once again this year. After first joining the network at the 2024 event in Manchester, it was a pleasure to return in 2025, especially as it was hosted at the Health Services Management Centre (HSMC) at the University of Birmingham, which is also my home department.

By Imelda McDermott The Health Services Research UK (HSRUK) conference is a must-attend annual event for those interested in health and care services research, policy, and practice in the UK and internationally. It brings together a diverse community including academics, policymakers, and NHS and social care professionals, to promote cutting-edge research, foster collaboration, and drive improvements in health and social care.

The second Trump administration's centrepiece legislation, the modestly-named Big Beautiful Bill, passed by the House of Representatives and going through the Senate at time of writing, offers an opportunity to reflect upon how the U.S. state affects health policy and the prospects for equitable access to affordable healthcare. Is the U.S. still an outlier (by comparison with Europe and much of the world), in that its many of its citizens are either uncovered, poorly covered or tenuously and only temporarily covered by health insurance?

ANOTHER MORAL PANIC ABOUT THE NHS By Calum Paton According to Wikipedia, “zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies.” Well, thanks to Policy Exchange and its cheerleaders in the Telegraph, Times and various other outlets which are not above selling moral panic for profit, the zombie policy of replacing the NHS with ‘social insurance’ is getting yet another airing.

By Calum Paton First thing first: ‘Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England’ is not a plan. It is this government collecting and rebranding various themes which have run through ‘landmark’ national documents about the NHS and health in the 21st century. Does this add up to a vision? Don’t ask Keir Starmer - in the words of President George H.W.

Introduction People with dementia experience complex healthcare needs. Clinical pharmacists play a crucial role in optimising medication management and ensuring patient safety within the primary care ...

(in the U.S., it's the politics, stupid) By Calum Paton My title doesn’t refer to the Trump v. Musk dust-up. (If politics is showbusiness for ugly people, then that is a Monster Movie for protagonists too politically ugly to get the roles of Godzilla and Kong.) No, I am referring to the nature of the U.S state. And in particular, to its effect upon health policy.

The partnership model in general practice in England has been in place since before the NHS was formed, but its future is uncertain. The number of GP partners has fallen significantly, and relatively…

‘the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must’ By Calum Paton Gordon Brown (Chancellor, 1997-2007; PM 2007-2010) took years to acknowledge that his promise to ‘end boom and bust’ had been undermined by the financial crisis of 2008. The NHS has likewise been subject to boom and bust. Mostly unacknowledged. (Three-year budgets are often promised, as a minor protection against see-saw, but they never materialise in a meaningful form.) NHS boom and bust of course reflects the bumper ride of the economy as a whole.

By Calum Paton The Supreme Court has ruled that in the Equality Act 2010 (the Act), 'sex' means biological sex. This means that, under the Act, a 'woman' is a biological woman or girl (a person born female) and a 'man' is a biological man or boy (a person born male). If someone identifies as trans, they have not changed sex for the purposes of the Act, meaning that a trans woman is a biological man and a trans man is a biological woman.

By Calum Paton Health Secretary Wes Streeting is trying to learn from the Brazilian favelas, as part of his ‘prevention and promotion, get services into the community and save money’ mantra. We are told there is a ‘pilot project’ in Pimlico and 25 other ‘roll outs’ rolling along. (Have a look at How might this go? Well, Pimlico is conveniently near to Westminster.

Debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories.

This study explores how pharmacists legitimise the expansion of their clinical work and considers its impact on pharmacists’ professional identity work. In the context of pharmacy in the English NHS,....

By Calum Paton I can say, hand on heart, that I have never known a more depressing time in British politics. Why? Is it perhaps the ageing process wearying me (I am 69 later this year)? Or cynicism after too many decades studying politics? Whatever the partial truths of these, there are much bigger reasons. Firstly, the Labour government is combining macro-economic and fiscal sado-masochism on a ridiculous scale.

This study explores how pharmacists legitimise the expansion of their clinical work and considers its impact on pharmacists’ professional identity work. In the context of pharmacy in the English NHS,...

The UK government is set to bring the NHS back under direct political control.

By Calum Paton Once upon a time, there was a man called Roy Griffiths. He advised Mrs. Thatcher and her health Ministers (Norman Fowler and Ken Clarke) that it would be a good idea to take control of the NHS out of day-to-day political control. The NHS Management Board was set up, at arms length from the Ministry (what was then the DHSS) and in particular the Permanent Secretary (Ken Stowe), who welcomed the Griffiths Report with a smile but which was rather like the smile of a python to a rabbit.

By Calum Paton Or…reinventing a square wheel made of stone Oh, Wes lad…how could you? In my last blog, I advised you to stick to the day job (instead of sounding off about Ukraine in a manner even more unhelpful to the search for peace than we knew at the time. You were of course backing up your leader, Keir…

OR…zombie governments beget zombie policy. By Calum Paton It had to come, didn’t it? It was an accident waiting to happen, hanging over a gullible Wes ever since he communed with his inner Blairite and recruited the old gang to advise him. “NHS will compete with itself in Streeting’s productivity reforms”, reports the Times last week. In the heady days of the Noughties, before the world went to Hell in a handcart, I used to call the Milburn and Corrigan double-act ‘Miligan’.

Policy Points Science communication and health policy language often fail to adequately define and contextualize systemic barriers—like structural racism and wealth inequity—that contribute to di...

Philosophy of Science, Medicine, AI and Law; Epistemology; Metaphysics; Logic

Or…the end of ideology (again) Hang out the flags, a new world order's on the way Start singing now, a song to greet the joyful day Just when we thought the time was right for celebrating With music of the spheres What's this - another boat of fleeing refugees On a sea of children's tears By Calum Paton Paddy McAloon of the band…

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In an unprecedented move, research-grant reviews have been suspended indefinitely at the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research.

By Calum Paton Call me naive, but about two years ago I was looking forward to this Labour government. That Keir Starmer - he’s neither Blair nor Corbyn, innit? But I was wrong. He’s Blair only devoid of money and charisma. The Blairites have tried to rewrite history regarding their stewardship of the economy in general and the NHS in particular.

By Calum Paton I have taken the liberty of adapting the title of Lionel Shriver’s novel by replacing ‘Kevin’ with ‘Nigel’! We do need to talk about Nigel. Not because he is a psychopath, like Kevin - but because the Labour Party’s strategy of (almost) ignoring him and plodding on with ‘delivery’ by the next election as the answer to populism is potentially disastrous.

It was Cory Doctorow, the author, who coined the term ‘enshittification’ when he used it to describe the evolution and, critically, the deterioration of tech platforms. In 2023 the American Dialect So...