This presentation was given by Janet Boutell, from the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow, as part of a seminar entitled ‘Disinvestment’, or ‘freeing up’ resources for reinvestment?

The seminar, run by What Works Scotland in partnership with ScotPHN and NHS Health Scotland, examined issues around changing the balance of spend to emphasise prevention and to shift the balance of care away from hospitals into social care in the community. It considered the assumptions around disinvestment, and how to measure and realise potential savings in prevention.

In this talk Janet Boutell discusses the recent increased international focus on ‘disinvestment’ in health technologies. Various approaches have been proposed, observed and adopted. A review carried out by her and her colleagues aimed to gain a broad overview of approaches to disinvestment previously adopted to inform a possible future research project. She summarises the eight broad types of approach to disinvestment they identified and discusses these, including the barriers and the facilitators.

See her slides and the other seminar presentations on the What Works Scotland website at http://whatworksscotland.ac.uk/events/disinvestment-or-freeing-up-resources-for-reinvestment/