Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Community participation and health care priorities: Reflections on policy, theatre and reality in Britain

Milewa, Timothy (1997) Community participation and health care priorities: Reflections on policy, theatre and reality in Britain. Health Promotion International, 12 (2). pp. 161-168. ISSN 0957-4824. (doi:10.1093/heapro/12.2.161) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:18187)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/12.2.161

Abstract

In recent years, the British government has attempted to make the finite nature of publicly funded health care explicit and to involve the 'public' in discussions about which treatments (or indeed patients) should be given priority over others. This article considers the nature of the new political emphasis upon local participation through an analysis of policy and illustrative reference to a system of participatory forums in the field of mental health planning developed in an area of southern England. The tendency by the health authority in question not to respond to many of the issues raised by the forums illustrates two characteristics of the health service in Britain. Firstly, there continues to exist a political, managerial and clinical hegemony within the service such that health authorities tend not to have to account for the weight they attach to local views or the manner in which such preferences are measured against other imperatives and considerations. In a second respect, the simplistic notion of the 'purchase' of health care by health authorities on behalf of local populations is problematic. Health authorities are faced with a panoply of political, statutory and bureaucratic requirements that preclude activity in accordance with 'market forces'. This in turn renders the idea of local 'advice' to purchasers considerably more complex than the associated political rhetoric intimates.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1093/heapro/12.2.161
Uncontrolled keywords: community participation; health care priorities; local voices; priorities
Subjects: H Social Sciences
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Divisions: Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research > Centre for Health Services Studies
Depositing User: M.A. Ziai
Date Deposited: 21 Sep 2009 14:51 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Mar 2023 11:31 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/18187 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.