Managing Public Involvement In Health Care Purchasing

Public involvement is a key theme within the post-reform NHS, with a growing emphasis on involving people in healthcare decision-making, improving accountability to the public and developing a stronger focus on the consumer or user of services. This challenging book establishes a framework for public involvement in healthcare. With a focus on purchasing, the authors draw on recent research understanding to describe the central factors 'driving' involvement and the organizational structures and processes by which it is underpinned. Current progress in respect of public involvement is assessed and recommendations made for the development of effective strategies. The discussion of current issues and debates is set within a wider theoretical and historical examination of the concepts of 'citizenship' and 'accountability', detailing the changing role of the 'consumer' in the context of the major developments in the organization and delivery of public services that have taken place in Britain in the last two decades.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction Health and citizenship Restructuring public services Politics, markets and accountability Understanding public involvement The history of public involvement in health Healthcare purchasing a new framework for public involvement Public involvement health authority responses Involvement the response from the public The future of public involvement Bibliography Index.

About the Author :
Carol Lupton is Director of the Social Services Research and Information Unit at the University of Portsmouth which undertakes research into most aspects of the organization and delivery of health and social care services. In addition to her work on consumer involvement in health care purchasing, Carol's current research includes an examination of the role of healthcare professionals in the child protection process and a study of the participation of families in child care decision-making via the Family Group Conference model. Stephen Peckham is a Research Fellow in the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of Southampton. He has previously worked in the voluntary sector and local government. Stephen's main research interests include the purchasing and commissioning of healthcare, public involvement in health and social care services, the delivery and organization of primary care and service and policy issues relating to sexual health. Pat Taylor is a senior lecturer in community care in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England. She has previously worked in social work and in the voluntary sector. Pat's main area research interest is public involvement and she has recently undertaken research on consumer involvement in healthcare and before that she set up and ran the consumer involvement project for Swindon Health Authority.