Professional Qualifications and professional memberships

• PhD in Economics
• PGCert in Higher Education
• PGCert in Health Services Research
• MSc in Health Economics
• BA(Hons) Economics
• Member of the UK Health Economics Study Group

Research interests

• Health economics
• Economic evaluation methodology and application
• Outcome measurement including non-monetary preference based methods and contingent valuation methodology
• Economics of rehabilitation
• Economic evaluation within pharmacy
   

Career summary

Tracey has worked as an assistant economist at the Department of Health and as a lecturer in Health Economics within the Medical Faculty at the University of Nottingham prior to joining UEA in 2007 as a Senior Lecturer in health economics within the School of Pharmacy. Tracey moved to the School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice in 2010.

My current research activity includes:

1. Economic evaluations alongside clinical trials

   A few examples of recent or current projects include:

   1. Getting Out of The House: A multi centre trial to evaluate an outdoor mobility intervention for people who have had a stroke (PI Dr Pip Logan, University of Nottingham, study funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, £1,040,363)
   2. Randomised controlled trial of ion-exchange water softeners for the treatment of atopic eczema in children. (PI Professor Hywel Williams, Dr Kim Thomas University of Nottingham, study funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, £905,028)
   3. Multi-professional clinical medication reviews in care homes for the elderly. A randomised controlled trial with cost-effectiveness study.  (PI Dr James Desborough, University of East Anglia, study funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme, £249,832)
   
    
2. Economic evaluation within pilot randomised controlled trials

   A few examples of recent or current projects include:

   1. A pilot study of the effectiveness of Multi-compartment Medication Devices (PI Dr D Bhattacharya, University of East Anglia, NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, £368,982)
   2. Medicines reconciliation at the interface: A pilot randomised controlled trial to determine the costs and effects of a pharmacy provided service (PI Brit Cadman, Cambridge University Foundation Hospital Trust, £249,601)
   3. Return to work following traumatic brain injury: Case control study and economic analysis (PI Dr Kate Radford, University of Central Lancashire, study funded by the College of Occupational Therapists, £76,896)
   4. Will a dedicated service improve medicine administration in older persons with dysphagia – a pilot study? (PI Jennifer Kelly, University of East Anglia, study funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme, £149,614)
   5. Supervised Pharmacy Student-led Medication Review of Diabetic Patients in Primary Care: A pilot study to ascertain the potential costs and effects. (PI Mr Ric Adams and Professor David Wright, University of East Anglia, study funded by the NIHR Research for Patient Benefit programme, £86,966)
   
    
3. Economic studies of early stage health technologie

   A few examples of recent or current projects include:

   1. Raman spectral imaging for automated Mohs Micrographic Surgery of high-risk Basal Cell Carcinoma (PI Dr Ioan Notingher, University of Nottingham, study funded by the NIHR i4i programme. £688,535)
   2. Innovative gel aid for administering tablets to stroke and other dysphagic patients (PI Professor Duncan Craig, University of East Anglia, MRC Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme, £345,000)
   
    
4. Contingent valuation methodology
   
   
   1. Undertaken a number of reviews on different aspects of CVM in health in collaboration with Professor Richard Smith at LSHTM  (see selected publications) but mainly with a focus on if and how such studies can be used to inform decision making.
   2. The following study included a partial test for hypothetical bias: Randomised controlled trial of ion-exchange water softeners for the treatment of atopic eczema in children. (PI Professor Hywel Williams, Dr Kim Thomas University of Nottingham, study funded by the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, £905,028)
   
    
5. External evaluations

   A few examples of recent or current projects include:

   1. Methodology for costing of Walking for Health (WfH) program of Natural England (Suhrcke M, Sach T, Fordham R, Nolte E, Ling T, Cacace M, Goshev S, Janta B, Brereten B, Funded by Natural England)
   2. Resources for Effective Sleep Treatment – A Lincolnshire Innovation and Change Collaborative Quality Improvement Study. (PI Professor Niro Siriwardena, University of Lincoln, funded by The Health Foundation)
   3. External evaluation of pilot vocational rehabilitation services for cancer survivors  (PI Dr Diane Playford, UCL, funded by Macmillan)
   4. Cancer Genetics Pilots Partnership Programme external evaluation (PI Professor Graham Currie, University of Nottingham, funded by DH/Macmillan)

• Thomas KS, Dean T, O'Leary C, Sach TH, Koller K, Frost A, Williams HC; the SWET Trial Team. A Randomised Controlled Trial of Ion-Exchange Water Softeners for the Treatment of Eczema in Children. PLoS Med. 2011 Feb 15;8(2):e1000395.
• Thomas K, Koller K, Dean T, O'Leary C, Sach T, Frost A, Pallett I, Crook A, Meredith S, Nunn A, Burrows N, Pollock I, Graham-Brown R, O'Toole E, Potter D, Williams H. A multicentre randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of ion-exchange water softeners for the treatment of eczema in children: the Softened Water Eczema Trial (SWET). Health Technol Assess. 2011 Feb;15(8):1-156.
• Yu CP, Whynes DK, Sach TH. Reform towards National Health Insurance in Malaysia: The equity implications. Health Policy. 2010 Dec 1. [Epub ahead of print]
• Coole C, Drummond A, Sach T, Watson PJ. Assessing the feasibility of collecting health care resource use data from General Practices for use in an economic evaluation of vocational rehabilitation for back pain. Journal of Evaluation and Clinical Practice. 2011 Feb;17(1):204-7. 
• Sach TH, Harwood RH, Foss AJE, Osborn F, Gregson RM, Zaman A, Masud T. Second eye cataract surgery in elderly women: a cost utility analysis conducted alongside a randomised controlled trial. Eye. (2010);24(2):276-83. 
• Logan PA, Coupland CA, Gladman JR, Sahota O, Stoner-Hobbs V, Robertson K, Tomlinson V, Ward M, Sach T, Avery AJ. Community falls prevention for people who call an emergency ambulance after a fall: randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 2010 May 11;340:c2102
• Smith RD, Sach T. Contingent Valuation: What needs to be done? Health economics, Policy and Law (2010);5(Pt 1):91-111. Smith RD, Sach T. Response. Contingent valuation: has the debate begun? Health economics, Policy and Law (2010);5(Pt 1):133-4.
• Sach TH, Whynes DK. Men and women: beliefs about cancer and about screening. BMC Public Health. (2009);9:431. 
• Jenkinson CM, Doherty M, Avery AJ, Read A, Taylor MA, Sach TH, Silcocks P, Muir KR. A randomised controlled trial assessing effects of weight loss and quadriceps strengthening exercises on pain and function in overweight people with knee pain. British Medical Journal 2009; 339:606-609.
• Barton GR, Sach T, Jenkinson C, Doherty M, Avery A, Muir KR. Lifestyle Interventions for Knee Pain: Cost-effectiveness analysis. British Medical Journal 2009;339:610-612.
• Sach T, Barton GR, Jenkinson C, Doherty M, Avery A, Muir KR. Comparing cost-utility estimates: Does the choice of EQ-5D or SF-6D matter? Medical Care 2009 Aug;47(8):889-94. 
• Sach TH, Barton GR, Doherty M, Muir KR, Jenkinson C, Avery AJ. The relationship between BMI and health related quality of life: comparing the EQ-5D, EuroQol VAS, and SF-6D. International Journal of Obesity (2007);31(1):189-196.
• Sach TH, Smith R, and Whynes DK. A 'league table' of contingent valuation results for pharmaceutical interventions: A hard pill to swallow? Pharmacoeconomics (2007);25(2):107-127.
• Whynes DK, Sach TH. WTP vs. WTA: Do people think differently? Social Science and Medicine (2007);65(5):946-57

Course director for the PGCert/PGDip/MSc in Health Economics (2010 - )

FOH postgraduate taught programmes exam board (2010-) Module lead for the dissertations module for the MSc in Health Economics (2010 - )

Two sessions on the MSc/PGDip of General Pharmacy Practice run by the School of Pharmacy (2007 - )

Supervision of postgraduate research degree students in areas to do with health economics and economic evaluation. Example topics of current/previous students have included examining the impact of Pharmacist Advisors at NHS direct using a mix-methods evaluation, the cost effectiveness of specialist home care for those with dementia and Health care financing equity in Malaysia.

I am the PGR lead for the Health Economics Group