Dilemmas in Health Care (Health & Disease) Book

This book considers the major dilemmas arising from funding, organization and delivery of health care in the United Kingdom in the 1990s. "Health care" is given the widest-possible definition stepping beyond the health service to include social, community, educational and government initiatives - in an analysis of the concepts on and opportunities for improving the nation's health. The authors come from a wide range of academic and research backgrounds in health and social care. They examine the dilemmas inherent in providing care that is simultaneously effective in alleviating disease and in promoting health, cost-effective in its use of financial and human resources, delivered equitably to those who need it, and humane in its treatment of service-users and health workers. A number of contemporary themes are explored: the management of limited resources; the evaluation of inputs and outcomes; the relative power of "consumers", doctors and managers, and the aspirations of the workforce; planning for the latest developments in medical technology; and balancing the provision of hospital, primary and community care, and the demand for curative and preventive services. The book concludes by examining the prospects for social and fiscal policies to make an impact on health. "Dilemmas in Health Care" is a completely revised and updated version of the text "Caring for Health: Dilemmas and Prospects" published by Open University Press in 1985. Along with the other titles in this series, it should be useful reading for lay and professional health care workers with an interest in all aspects of health and health care, as well as students of the social sciences, medicine and nursing, social work and social policy.Read More