Soft methods, hard targets: regional alcohol managers as a policy network
Lloyd, Charlie, Thom, Betsy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4975-7613, MacGregor, Susanne, Herring, Rachel
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8588-5842, Godfrey, Christine, Toner, Paul and Tchilingirian, Jordan
(2014)
Soft methods, hard targets: regional alcohol managers as a policy network.
Journal of Substance Use, 19
(4)
.
pp. 319-326.
ISSN 1465-9891
[Article]
(doi:10.3109/14659891.2013.808710)
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Abstract
Regional Alcohol Managers (RAMs) was employed in the nine English health regions over 2008–2011. Their mission was to impact on the ‘hard target’ of Alcohol-Related Hospital Admissions (AHRAs) through the ‘soft methods’ of persuasion and influence: working with local partners on evidence-based interventions. Drawing on a qualitative evaluation, this article shows how a central government policy imperative (ARHAs) led to ‘government at a distance’ responses, including the introduction of RAMs. The processes involved in shaping and delivering this function bore the hallmarks of a complex, interactive policy network model, involving individuals whose bearings and roles were flexible and sometimes ambiguous. While there were overlaps and blurring of boundaries, there were three levels of policy network: central government, regional and local. As the ‘network in the middle’, the RAMs were pulled in both directions by conflicting agendas but were also able to have an impact on central and local policy.
Item Type: | Article |
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Additional Information: | Early online 9th July 2013 |
Keywords (uncontrolled): | Alcohol, drinking (drinkers), policy (policies), qualitative |
Research Areas: | A. > School of Health and Education > Mental Health, Social Work and Interprofessional Learning |
Item ID: | 12823 |
Notes on copyright: | This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Substance Use on 09/07/2013, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.3109/14659891.2013.808710 |
Useful Links: | |
Depositing User: | Rachel Herring |
Date Deposited: | 08 Jan 2014 12:43 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jun 2022 05:07 |
URI: | https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/id/eprint/12823 |
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