How can we set priorities in health fairly?

The Nuffield Trust hosted this seminar on priority setting in health in association with University College London (UCL) Centre for Philosophy, Justice and Health.

The conference explored recent research on fair priority setting in heath, drawing on three projects: the Nuffield Trust and University of Birmingham report: Setting priorities in health: The challenge of clinical commissioning (September 2011); the UCL/NICE Social values project; and the UCL/Pfizer project: Value-based pricing and multi-criteria decision analysis.

This conference:

• Reflected upon national and international experiences of priority setting in health;
• Explored how best to ensure accountable and fair decision-making in priority setting decisions;
• Considered the implications of using social values when setting priorities in health.

Speakers included:

• Professor Albert Weale, UCL, and Dr Sarah Clarke, UCL, on social values in priority setting;
• Professor Jonathan Wolff, UCL, on making priority setting decisions with multi-criteria;
• Dr Shepley Orr, UCL, on which values we should use when setting priorities in health;
• Dr Helen Dickinson, University of Birmingham, on setting priorities and rationing in health and social care;
• Dr Benedict Rumbold, Nuffield Trust, on making reasons for decisions public.

You can access further information about the Nuffield Trust’s work on commissioning from the dedicated area of work page.