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Government's Objective (government + objective)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Social deprivation and the outcomes of crisis resolution and home treatment for people with mental health problems: a historical cohort study

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 5 2010
Richard Kingsford BA (Hons) MA DipSW MSc
Abstract The development of crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) teams has been central to the UK Government's objective of reducing reliance on hospital-based care and is supported by a growing body of evidence. However, there has been no research specifically exploring the relationship between social deprivation and CRHT teams, in spite of evidence of an association between social deprivation and increased pressure on inpatient services. This article reports a study which tested the hypothesis that social deprivation is associated with the outcome of CRHT interventions. Using a historical cohort study design, we examined a total of 260 accepted referrals to a CRHT. Social deprivation was measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 2004) as a predictor of CRHT interventions outcomes. CRHT outcomes were dichotomised into successful and unsuccessful and were defined with reference to the CRHT operational policy. Univariate analysis found that people who lived in more socially deprived areas had a poorer outcome, as did older people and those referred from the enhanced community mental health team (CMHT). Logistic regression analysis found that age and referral source were independently associated with outcome. Analysis of the demographic data also suggested a non-significant trend towards men having less successful outcomes. Further analysis exploring the characteristics of the different referral sources to the CRHT found that those referred from the enhanced CMHT were significantly more likely to be from the most deprived area. This suggested a relationship between an enhanced level of mental health need, social deprivation and poor outcome of CRHT intervention. [source]

Health care reform in Belgium

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue S1 2005
Erik Schokkaert
Abstract Curbing the growth of public sector health expenditures has been the proclaimed government objective in Belgium since the 1980s. However, the respect for freedom of choice for patients and for therapeutic freedom for providers has blocked the introduction of microeconomic incentives and quality control. Therefore , with some exceptions, particularly in the hospital sector , policy has consisted mainly of tariff and supply restrictions and increases in co-payments. These measures have not been successful in curbing the growth of expenditures. Moreover, there remains a large variation in medical practices. While the structure of health financing is relatively progressive from an international perspective, socioeconomic and regional inequalities in health persist. The most important challenge is the restructuring of the basic decision-making processes; i.e. a simplification of the bureaucratic procedures and a re-examination of the role of regional authorities and sickness funds. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Performance Indicators and Widening Participation in UK Higher Education

HIGHER EDUCATION QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2005
Geoff Pugh
We investigate the relationship between the widening participation performance indicators adopted in UK higher education (HE) and the government's objective of increasing overall HE participation rates. We critically assess the development of performance monitoring in HE and identify weaknesses in the current performance indicators from the perspective of the main stakeholders. We suggest the development of internal indicators and benchmarks by HE institutions together with extensions to the current national performance indicators that could improve their usefulness. [source]

Anti-dumping measures as a tool of protectionism: A mechanism design approach

CANADIAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2001
Leonard K. Cheng
In this paper we explore the design of optimal incentive-compatible anti-dumping (AD) measures. When the weight given to the domestic firm's profit in the government's objective function is relatively small, it is shown that no AD duty should be imposed if the foreign firm reports its own costs, but a constant AD duty should be imposed if the domestic firm reports the foreign firm's cost. When this weight is large, in either case of reporting the AD duty is a prohibitive tariff. The optimal AD measures are modified in the presence of a GATT/WTO constraint. JEL Classification: F12, F13 Les mesures anti-dumping en tant qu'outil de protectionnisme: une approche en termes de construction de mécanismes. Ce mémoire examine la construction de mesures optimaales anti-dumping (AD). Quandla valence des profits de la firme domestique est faible dans la fonction objective du gouvernement, on peut montrer qu'aucune mesure AD ne devrait être imposée si l'entreprise étrangère révèle ses propres coûts, mais qu'un droit AD constant devrait être imposé si c'est la firme domestique qui révèle les coûts de l'entreprise étrangère. Quand la valence des profits de la firme domestique est grande, quelle que soit la source de l'information, la mesure AD qui s'impose est un droit de douane prohibitif. Les mesures optimales doivent évidemment être modifiées pour prendre en compte la contrainte engendrée par l'existence des règles du GATT/OMC. [source]