scholarly journals Homeopathy, Western medicine and the discourse of evidence: Negotiating legitimacy in a public online forum

2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (7) ◽  
pp. 1013-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J Gibson
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Western Medicine ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Publicly Funded ◽  
Online Forum ◽  
The Public ◽  
Category Distinction

This article reports on the analysis of an online forum on the UK’s National Health Service website where participants debated the provision of homeopathy as publicly funded medical treatment. Using membership categorisation analysis, the article looks at how members negotiated a category distinction between homeopathy and ‘orthodox Western medicine’, focusing on the discursive resources that the participants drew on to position each other and the website itself in moral terms. This analysis contributes to our understanding of the institutionalisation of complementary and alternative medicine by demonstrating the strong polarisation of views that are present in the public domain, and the ways that public institutions become held accountable to ideologies of evidence and choice. In this way, the study adds to our growing knowledge about public engagement in pluralistic healthcare systems, showing further the limitations of the ‘rational choice’ assumptions that underlie pluralism.

Accountability for Rationing — Theory into Practice

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 660-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Newdick
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
The Public ◽  
Modern Health Care ◽  
Concept Of Health ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Health Need

Most now recognize the inevitability of rationing in modern health care systems. The elastic nature of the concept of “health need,” our natural human sympathy for those in distress, the increased range of conditions for which treatment is available, the “greying” of the population; all expand demand for care in ways that exceed the supply of resources to provide it. UK governments, however, have found this truth difficult to present and have not encouraged open and candid public debate about choices in health care. Indeed, successive governments have presented the opposite view, that “if you are ill or injured there will be a national health service there to help; and access to it will be based on need and need alone.” And they have been rightly criticized for misleading the public and then blaming clinical and managerial staffin the National Health Service (NHS) when expectations have been disappointed.

Rethinking creative research methods in response to COVID-19: Creating a remote research kit

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecka Fleetwood-Smith
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Arts Organizations ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
Hospital Environments ◽  
Creative Research

The ‘Sensing Spaces of Healthcare: Rethinking the NHS Hospital’ project involves working with National Health Service (NHS) staff, patients and visitors to explore their experiences of hospital environments. Over the course of the project, creative approaches centred on art-based and design-led practices are employed to research people’s experiences. Such approaches often involve working closely with participants during sessions. As COVID-19 infection control measures have affected in-person research, it has been necessary to develop and adopt alternative low-contact approaches. This article presents the development of a remote creative research kit designed to be used without a researcher/practitioner present. The kit has been developed through work with creative practitioners, hospital arts organizations, patient and public contributors and learning from public engagement events. The remote creative research kit has led to rethinking and reimagining the ways in which such approaches may be of benefit more broadly in healthcare settings.

The Beveridge Report and the Implementation of the Welfare State

2018 ◽  
pp. 260-285
Author(s):  
George R. Boyer
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Universal Coverage ◽  
Social Welfare Policy ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
The Public ◽  
Welfare Reforms ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter explores the story of the 1942 Beveridge Report and the beginnings of the welfare state. The policies proposed by Beveridge and the 1945–48 legislation were logical extensions of government's expanding role in social welfare policy beginning with the Liberal Welfare Reforms. This does not mean that the importance of the postwar legislation should be downplayed. Because of the adoption of the National Health Service, universal coverage, and equality of treatment, Britain after 1948 deserves to be called a welfare state, while Edwardian and interwar Britain do not. Unfortunately, despite the enthusiasm with which the public greeted the welfare state, the postwar policies did not eliminate economic insecurity.

scholarly journals Guardians of public interest: the expectation and experience of non-executive directors in National Health Service commissioning boards in England

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Tweed ◽  
Louise M. Wallace
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
National Health ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Executive Directors ◽  
Goal Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Systems Model

PurposeThe purpose of the study is to examine how Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) in the English National Health Service (NHS) commissioning bodies experienced their role and contribution to governance.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 31 NEDs of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and 8 Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) NEDs. Framework analysis was applied using a conceptualisation of governance developed by Newman, which has four models of governance: the hierarchy, self-governance, open systems and rational goal model.FindingsNEDs saw themselves as guardians of the public interest. NEDs’ power is a product of the explicit levers set out in the constitution of the board, but also how they choose to use their knowledge and expertise to influence decisions for, as they see it, the public good. They contribute to governance by holding to account executive and professional colleagues, acting largely within the rational goal model. CCG NEDs felt less powerful than in those in PCTs, operating largely in conformance and representational roles, even though government policy appears to be moving towards a more networked, open systems model.Originality/valueThis is the first in-depth study of NEDs in English NHS local commissioning bodies. It is of value in helping to inform how the NED role could be enhanced to make a wider contribution to healthcare leadership as new systems are established in the UK and beyond.

Psychiatrists and Citizens

1991 ◽  
Vol 159 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. T. Birley
Keyword(s):  
National Health Service ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Medical Profession ◽  
Basic Premise ◽  
The Public ◽  
False Dichotomy ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Lasting Change

During the last two years, the medical profession in Britain has been participating in a public debate – perhaps in a more exposed way than for some time. Eminent Presidents have been writing letters to The Times, and less eminent ones demonstrating in Downing Street. This can all be seen as contributions to the discussion on the state of the National Health Service. But there is, I believe, a wider and in my view a more long-lasting change going on, namely the relationship between the medical profession and the public – the citizens of this country. You may feel that the basic premise is based on a false dichotomy, rather like the sterile debates on community care. Hospitals are part of the community. Doctors are citizens. Yet there is an implicit or explicit contract, social if not financial, between a country's medical profession and its citizens. As we are in the era of negotiating or inventing or specifying contracts, I wanted to consider this.

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