News release: Health statistics: signposts or smokescreen? The Audrey Wise Memorial Lecture 2003

Abstract

The Faculty of Health at the University of Central Lancashire is to host the third annual
Audrey Wise Memorial Lecture on Tuesday 30th September 2003 at 6pm in the
Greenbank Lecture Theatre.
This year's guest speaker is Alison McFarlane, Professor of Perinatal Health from St
Bartholomew's School of Nursing & Midwifery, City University, London. Alison was
known to and admired by Audrey Wise. Her interest is in the politics of health
statistics, including national maternity statistics.
The title of Alison's presentation will be "Official health statistics: signposts or
smokescreen on the road to improving health care".
Reliable statistics can be invaluable for monitoring health care and the health of the
population in relation to policy change. Despite this, people often distrust them because
of the ways in which they are sometimes used as a smokescreen to divert attention from
unwelcome developments. If statistics are to support the process of improving health
care, attention needs to be given to the ways in which they are defined, collected,
analysed, interpreted, published and used in deci sion-making and political debates.
Anyone wishing to attend the lecture should contact Claire Wrigley in the Faculty of
Health on Preston 01772 893840, email cwrigley@uclan.ac.uk .
24th September 2003
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