Policy Press

Healthcare in the UK

Understanding continuity and change

By Ian Greener

Published

Nov 19, 2008

Page count

304 pages

ISBN

978-1861346087

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Nov 19, 2008

Page count

304 pages

ISBN

978-1861346094

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press
Healthcare in the UK

This book contends that attempts to reform the NHS can only be understood by reference to both the wider social and political context, and to the organisational and ideational legacies present within the NHS itself. It aims to take students beyond a basic understanding of the historical development of health policy in the UK, to one that demonstrates an appreciation of the interactions between health policy, organisation and society.

Continuity and change in the NHS:

· acts as a crucial bridge between conventional textbooks on the NHS and contemporary health policy research;

· provides a theoretically rigorous but accessible account of the development of policy and organisational change not found elsewhere;

· presents new scholarship in the political economy of welfare in a clear format.

The book is aimed at third year and post-graduate students of politics, public management and health studies. It provides a theoretically inspired account of the development of health policy and organisation in the UK which will also be of interest to academics and researchers in the field.

'...a very welcome addition to the range of thorough research that is now building around health care policy, organisation and management...This is the book I have been waiting for.' Sociology of Health and Illness

"Used this to help me with my Public Policy course at University. Couldn't have done without it during the UK Healthcare module." 5% review on Amazon

"Greener's 'analytical history' of the NHS offers a stimulating treatment of major themes and events over its first 60 years. The bonus is that, unlike most other analysts, he provides reasoned recommendations about the future of the service." Stephen Harrison, Professor of Social Policy, University of Manchester

Ian Greener is a Lecturer in Management Studies at the University of York. He has written widely about health policy and organisation in the UK.

Contents: Theory, history and health policy, and organisation; The creation of the NHS; The 1950s: 'golden age' or the NHS under threat?; The 1960s and the changing balance of professional power; Reforming healthcare in the 1960s and the 1970s; The political economy and changing ideology of healthcare; policy in the 1970s; The internal market reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, Continuous revolution? Health policy under New Labour; Long-range explanations of health policy change; Future directions and conclusion.