Health and Healthcare Research

RAND Europe's growing health and healthcare portfolio brings together a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in public health, health services research, clinical medicine, economics, psychology and systems design.

We work in close partnership with The Health Improvement Studies Institute (THIS) to help generate practical, actionable evidence that can support sustainable improvements in healthcare service provision and long-term patient benefit. The Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research (CCHSR) is also a key collaborator.

Featured Research

15 Feb 2019

Enabling public contributions to health research

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in health research can take place at different levels and across stages of a research cycle. Despite challenges, the growing focus on and increased commitment to PPI over the past decade has revealed some key enabling mechanisms and rewards.

Selected Research

Supporting the 'Britain's Healthiest Workplace' Competition

08 Feb 2019

Since 2014, RAND Europe has designed and run surveys, analysed results, and provided customised reports to organisations that participate in the annual Britain's Healthiest Workplace competition. The contest’s central aims are to raise awareness and gain a better understanding of how organisations can engage with the wellness of their employees.
How to enable NHS staff to contribute to healthcare research

12 Dec 2018

The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute sought evidence of why and how NHS staff contribute to healthcare research, as well as their associated engagement challenges and potential enabling mechanisms.
Requiring repayment of incentives encourages greater wellness

27 Nov 2018

Wellness incentives are more successful when they provide a benefit up front and require repayment if recipients do not maintain a required level of activity, according to a longitudinal study of nearly 500,000 programme participants.
Evaluation suggests next steps for Dance4Life

21 Nov 2018

Dance4life, an international youth initiative to raise awareness and promote prevention of HIV/AIDS, developed and piloted a new programme and implementation model. An evaluation of the pilot found many successes but also areas where improvements could be made.
Follow-up evaluation of the health and justice outcomes of L&D services

12 Nov 2018

The Department of Health and Social Care commissioned RAND Europe to undertake a second study on the UK's new model for Liaison and Diversion schemes. This study aims to investigate whether the new model has an impact on reconviction, the length of court processes, diversion from the criminal justice system, and the use of A&E and mental health services.
Making outcome-based payments a reality in the NHS

23 Oct 2018

Researchers are testing out a new approach to paying for cancer drugs in the UK on the basis of the outcomes they achieve, known as outcome-based payment (OBP) schemes. The project aims to help improve patient outcomes and drive value for the National Health Service.
Measuring employee engagement in the NHS

11 Oct 2018

Analysis of the NHS Healthy Workforce Survey and VitalityHealth’s Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey found that staff engagement in the NHS is similar to other large UK employers with a similar demographic composition, and that demographic factors such as gender and age are associated with different levels of engagement.
Evaluating the Wellbeing Premium Programme

01 Oct 2018

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often find it hard to invest in the health and wellbeing of their employees, or do not invest at all. Researchers are evaluating a randomised controlled trial of a financial incentive programme to improve employee health and wellbeing in SMEs in the West Midlands.

Our Experts

Jon Sussex

Chief Economist

Jon Sussex is chief economist at RAND Europe and co-director of the Cambridge Centre for Health Services Research (a collaboration between RAND Europe and the Insitute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge). He has 30 years of experience in research and consultancy in the fields…
Sonja Marjanovic

Senior Research Leader

Sonja Marjanovic is a senior research leader in Innovation, Health and Science at RAND Europe and head of RAND Europe's institutional partnership with The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute at Cambridge University (a flagship national research institute led by Prof…
Sarah Ball

Senior Analyst

Sarah Ball is a senior analyst at RAND Europe with a research focus on health and healthcare. In her time at RAND Europe, she has contributed to a range of research projects in the area of health services delivery, including NIHR funded studies on a ‘telephone first’…
Catherine A. Lichten

Senior Analyst

Catherine Lichten is a senior analyst at RAND Europe working primarily in areas related to science and health. Her RAND research projects have examined a range of topics related to research funding, research culture, and the interface of science and society. She also has…

Quoted

There's also something quite interesting in a survey of this nature [the Healthiest Workplace Survey]. It shows you the difference between what the employer thinks is happening and what the employee perceives. And, actually, that difference is quite substantial.
Christian Van Stolk

Vice President, RAND Europe
Source: BFM 89.9
There's some research that shows that if you're a well-slept person you tend to be more productive on average which subsequently has a positive effect on your long-term earnings.
Marco Hafner

Senior Economist
Source: Marketplace/BBC World Service
A well-rested employee has a higher work rate, is more productive in that sense, is more motivated, and also more engaged.
Marco Hafner

Senior Economist
Source: BBC Radio 4
People who don't sleep enough are more likely to die at any given point in time. And that obviously reduces the labor supply of an economy. If people don't sleep enough they are less productive at work, which subsequently also has negative consequences for companies.
Marco Hafner

Senior Economist
Source: Marketplace Morning Report
The UK loses hundreds of thousands of working days due to insufficient sleep, costing the economy £40bn each year.
Marco Hafner

Senior Economist
Source: Financial Times
Later school start times are the one intervention that evidence has shown could make a demonstrable impact on reducing the epidemic of teen sleep deprivation. We need good parenting and we need good policy.
Wendy M. Troxel

Senior Behavioral and Social Scientist
Source: WGN-AM
The impact of tiny investments can be dramatic. A 1 percentage point increase in social spending would add up to 16 million additional years of life across the whole U.S. population.
Alex Sutherland

Senior Research Leader
Source: Politico
Independent of whether you need a bit more sleep or a bit less sleep, anything below six hours a night for the normal person is associated with negative consequences in terms of health and productivity.
Marco Hafner

Senior Economist
Source: BBC World Service