Stephen Peckham BSc MA(Econ)

Reader in Health Policy

Stephen is Reader in Health Policy and Director of the Department of Health funded Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System. He joined the School in October 2005 as Senior Lecturer in Health Services Delivery and Organisational Research at the HSRU and was academic director within the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation R&D Programme and subsequently director of the National Co-ordinating Centre for the SDO Programme until its move to Southampton in 2009.

Stephen was previously Reader in Health Policy and Head of Department of Sociology and Social Policy at Oxford Brookes University. He has been involved in health and social policy research and teaching since 1991 and previously worked in the voluntary and local government sectors. He has published widely on primary care and health policy including 'Primary Care in the UK: Policy, Organisation and Management published by Palgrave MacMillan in 2003 and an edited collection on Public Health Ethics and Practice  published by Policy Press in 2009. He has also co-authored a social policy text 'Social Policy for Nurses and the Helping Professions' published by Open University Press in 2007.

Affiliation

Teaching

Health Policy Process and Power

Organisational Management

Research

Stephen's main research interests are in health policy analysis, inter-agency collaboration, primary care, public health and public involvement. Recent research includes projects on out of hours work force issues, a synthesis of policy evaluations  and the impact of decentralisation on performance of health care services. 

In January 2011 Stephen became director of one the new national Policy Research Units funded by the Department of Health for five years. The Policy Research Unit in Commissioning and the Healthcare System (PRUComm) is a joint venture with the Health Policy, Politics and Organisation research group in the Department of Primary Care, University of Manchester.

He has recently completed projects examining patient choice policy in the UK and the impact of the Quality and Outcomes Framework on public health practice and inequalities. He is currently leading a major evaluation of changes to health services in London where new polysystems are being developed. He is also leading a project with CRIPACC at the University of Hertfordshire exploring how people with long term conditions are engaged in commissioning health services. Other research includes a project exploring public health and general practice in more depth, work on public health ethics and has a growing interest in dental public health health and dental care services.

Research areas

  • Health care policy
  • Health policy
  • Health services research
  • Organisational research
  • Primary care
  • Public health

Disciplines

  • Policy analysis

Other interests

  • Patient And Public Involvement
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