Priority Setting: Working With Conflict

Thursday 30th October 2008 13:30 – 15:00

Daphne Austin, Responding to Conflict, Birmingham, UK.

Priority setting, as an area for study and practice, has largely been the domain of public health, health service management, health economics and medical ethics with a focus on how to undertake resource allocation in a robust, consistent and fair way.

During this time, however, there has been little improvement in the nature of the local and national debate about priority setting. It remains an issue of controversy and conflict. It seems that we are no nearer to Klein’s vision ‘to build up, over time, the capacity to engage in continuous, collective argument’.

In order to move to a mature and fully engaged dialogue the NHS has to look to a wider range of disciplines to fund all the necessary strategies and skills needed. Key areas in need of development are those which focus on building relationships.

This workshop will introduce participants, by way of a ‘taster’ session, to one of these disciplines – the field of conflict resolution. Focussing on intra-organisation conflict (i.e. within the healthcare system) the workshop aims to:

• Provide an introduction to conflict resolution, its theory and how this might provide a different way of thinking about conflicts.
• Explain how the conflicts arising from priority setting can be analysed and addressed like any other conflict.
• Explore how conflict has a role to play in finding a solution.
• Provide a practical exercise to help illustrate some new skills.