We are actively looking for new partnerships and funding for these new projects, which have been recently initiated in areas of high unmet patient need, a need for policy review and where we can utilize our tried and tested process to benefit wider groups of patients. If you are interested in providing support, or being involved in any of these projects, please get in touch.
An international working group on schizophrenia was originally convened by Oxford Health Policy Forum (OHPF) in 2013. The group called for a more comprehensive, recovery-based approach to the management and care of people with schizophrenia and published what is now a highly cited policy report to outline their recommendations. Given the evolving approaches to treatment and changing conceptualizations of schizophrenia in recent years, a new initiative has now been initiated. The focus of this follow-up project is to develop new best-practice approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia and to persuade policy makers to commit the time and resources necessary to implement them successfully. A successful campaign will ultimately help more individuals with schizophrenia lead independent, fulfilled lives.
If you would like to get involved, please contact us quoting reference number OHPF 22/SC and indicating how you would like to support the initiative.
The objective of this new programme is to stimulate a rethink on how to reduce barriers in accessing HIV healthcare services for people from Black and African communities living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the UK and how to advance standards of care for this population, including improved involvement in HIV research. This initiative will drive changes in research and health policy to achieve the best possible outcomes for people from Black and African communities living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the UK. The target outputs are to raise awareness of the barriers to accessing HIV healthcare services that are experienced by people in this population, make consensus recommendations for how these may be overcome and advocate for policy changes to implement the recommendations and to promote equity in HIV care. This multi-pronged campaign of awareness-raising and educational activities to drive the implementation of the report recommendations by key stakeholders is being undertaken in collaboration with the Africa Advocacy Foundation.
If you would like to get involved, please contact us quoting reference number OHPF 22/HIV and indicating how you would like to support the initiative.
Mounting evidence implicates Epstein Barr virus (EBV) as a major driver in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS) and possibly other autoimmune disorders, as well as various malignancies. Maintaining seronegativity could therefore represent a promising approach to alleviate the substantial burden associated with these conditions. This new initiative aims to raise awareness about the impact of EBV and to determine the feasibility of implementing a widespread immunization program and to develop a roadmap of how any resultant challenges can be overcome.
If you would like to get involved, please contact us quoting reference number OHPF 22/EBV and indicating how you would like to support the initiative.
This initiative will address the need for standards and policies to support the integration of precision medicine into routine healthcare practice. It will establish the current status of precision medicine and forecast its prospects in guiding the prediction, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. Our approach will be to explore the roles of the UK healthcare professional and healthcare systems at the interface between human and scientific aspects of precision medicine. The target outputs will be recommendations on standards and policies on integrating precision medicine for the following key themes.
- Development of highly personalized and precision therapies
- The role of genomics and genetics in future health management
- Ethical challenges relating to these advances and how to address potential disparities across and within healthcare systems
- Implications for regulatory and health economics systems
If you would like to get involved, please contact us quoting reference number OHPF 22/PM and indicating how you would like to support the initiative.
This project will address the urgent and essential need to widen and strengthen discussions and dialogue with policy makers, healthcare providers, clinicians and the public to create a greater sense of preparedness for the future. It will focus on the following three key themes for shaping a vision for health care in the next 20 to 30 years, which have already been identified as part of the Changing Face of Medicine commission for the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges. There is a clear imperative for the establishment of a formally resourced continuing commission whose work will be relevant to preparing future doctors in our fast-evolving medical and societal settings. The new era of health care will see doctors not only encouraging patients to take ownership of their health but also devising solutions based on collaboration and co-production; therefore, a key consideration underlying these themes will be the ongoing empowerment of patients and strong doctor–patient partnerships.
- Changing populations and the changing planet
- There is an urgent need to examine environmental sustainability and healthcare inequity/disparities as well as the ageing population and multimorbidity.
- Harnessing and humanizing technological innovation
- This workstream will explore how to use technology as an ally, with informatics, AI, big data and the momentum from the pharmacogenomics revolution to expedite accurate diagnosis and effective treatment.
- Training and developing the clinician
- This topic will focus on doctor wellbeing, teaching and training needs, equality, diversity and inclusion in the workforce, and medicine as a vocation in the future.
If you would like to get involved, please contact us quoting reference number OHPF 22/CFoM and indicating how you would like to support the initiative.
