W1 Introduction to Health Policy

Question 1

Quote
* “Absolute freedom is the right of the strongest to
dominate,’ Camus wrote, while ‘absolute justice is
achieved by the suppression of all contradiction:
therefore it destroys freedom.’ The conflict between
justice and freedom required constant re‐balancing,
political moderation, an acceptance and celebration of that which limits the most: our humanity. ‘To live and let live,’ he said, ‘in order to create what we are.” (Dresser,
2017)

Answer 1

-absoulute freedom is the strongest dominate
-absoulute justice is achieved by the suppression of all contradiction (destroys freedom)
-the conflict between justice + freedom need constant re-balancing , political moderation, an accceptance and celebration of that which limits the most

Question 2

Policy decisions, particularly with
respect to health try to balance:
balance I and C

Answer 2

Individualism
Collectivism

Question 3

Individualism
PAL

Answer 3

-personal independence
-autonomy
-liberty

Question 4

Collectivism
GCSS

Answer 4

-group norms
-common good
-social justice
-social support

Question 5

Policy Goals (Stone 2002)
SLEEP

Answer 5

-Security
-Liberty
-Equity
-Efficiency
-Potentially in CONFLICT with each other and prone to DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS

Question 6

What is policy?

Answer 6

-closely related to politics (cannot be divorced)
-authoritative allocation of resources (who gets what when and how)
-decisions taken by those with responsibility for a given policy arena (aka policy makers or policy elite)
- Inter-related decisions taken by an actor or group of actors concerning the selection of goals and the means of achieving them within a specified situation where these decisions, should, in principle, be within the power of these actors to achieve (Jenkins, 1978)

Question 7

What is Policy? Health Policy?

Answer 7

“Broad statement of the goals, objectives, and means that
create the framework for activity. Often takes the form
of explicit written documents, but may also be implicit or unwritten” (Buse et. al., 2012)
* The Policy Process = the way in which policies are initiated, formulated, developed, negotiated, communicated,
implemented and evaluated
* Public Policy – government policy or policies of government agencies
* Who cares? Health is affected by the decisions that are
made by policy makers and the relationship between these decisions/choices and health outcomes are critical

Question 8

Ergo

Answer 8

Policy, like politics, is everywhere
* It’s not always written down
* Can be purposefully chosen to ‘do nothing’
* Involves intentions rather than results
* May not always be successful, nor will certain people or
groups always be in agreement

Question 9

Answer 9

Top down approach
Every policy has interactions of these four things..

Contexts content process stakeholders or actors