Operational Research Projects in Health and Welfare Services in the United Kingdom and Ireland

The paper presents a comparison of Health and Welfare O.R. in the U.K. and Ireland as represented by two registers of current projects, compiled in 1972 and 1977 respectively. The survey shows that

1. i)
   There appear to be very few O.R. studies of social services;
    
2. ii)
   The major focus has apparently moved away from hospital-based tactical studies, towards more broadly-based strategic studies;
    
3. iii)
   Related to this, the number of projects labelled as concerned with "planning" has increased;
    
4. iv)
   The number of projects involving "optimisation" has decreased, whilst those involving simulation have shown some increase; and
    
5. v)
   The majority of projects in both years were described as involving "applied common sense", rather than any specific technique.