The Social Value Database and Simulator for Public Health (SVDS for Public Health)
The World Health Organization Collaborating Centre (WHO CC) on Investment for Health and Well-being at Public Health Wales is leading an innovative and progressive programme of work which aims to capture and measure the (social) value and social return on investment (SROI) of public health services and interventions, estimating the wider social, economic and environmental impacts. This works builds on an ‘Economy of Well-being’ approach to improve the health and well-being of the Welsh population and reduce inequities.
As part of this, the WHO CC has developed the ‘Social Value Database and Simulator for Public Health’ (hereafter referred to as SVDS for public health) for storage, manipulation and presentation of health economics data (primarily focusing on the SROI methodology). The SVDS for public health aims to inform and facilitate sustainable and equitable decision-making, investment prioritisation and quality improvement in the COVID-19 recovery in Wales. The SVDS for public health stores available and relevant economic evidence, which capture the (social) value of investing in public and population health. The interventions/services included in this tool are not necessarily the most effective interventions available, but are based on the available evidence in the publicly available literature. The tool will continue to be updated and expanded over time.
The SVDS for public health will have two major functions:
- Database: The SVDS for public health stores available and relevant SROI economic evidence, which capture the (social) value of investing in public and population health and will continue to be updated and expanded over time.
- Simulated estimates: All the relevant health economic information from existing evidence stored in the tool can be manipulated to create simulated health economic estimates to understand the value of Public Health interventions and services relevant to your own context.
The SVDS for public health aims to inform expert judgements and decision making regarding investment allocation and programme (quality) improvement with regard to available evidence on interventions and their relative (social) return on investment in the COVID-19 recovery. It is aimed at (i) colleagues internally to Public Health Wales such as Public Health Wales Executive Team and senior management teams (ii) external individuals with a certain level of expertise in social value/ health economic and budget holders as well as individuals working in service development and improvement and are involved in decision-making processes.
The SVDS for public health should be used with caution and used to guide and support decisions rather than being the sole means. It can be used to give an indication as to how much social value a similar intervention as to the one brought forward by the user could potentially generate.
For further information, please visit:
https://phwwhocc.co.uk/ih/our-work/sustainable-investment-for-health-well-being
To register and get access to the database please send an email to international.health@wales.nhs.uk requesting log in details.