Public Health Policy

by Hunter, David

• ISBN13: 9780745626475
• ISBN10: 0745626475
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-10
• Publisher: Polity

Summary

This volume provides a new and innovative overview of the key debates relating to public health policy in the UK at a time when concern over public health has never been greater. Mounting public disquiet over a range of crises, such as foot and mouth, BSE and other food safety issues, public transport, pollution, obesity and the environment have fuelled this renewed interest. Yet, health policy remains preoccupied with health-care services. In this book, David Hunter explains that, while they are important, health-care services are not the principal determinants of health. Why then, do they absorb the bulk of resources and attention of policy-makers? The reasons for the extraordinary difficulties encountered in putting health before health care are multiple and complex. Separate chapters cover a range of issues, including: the relationship between health and health care, health-care management and the powerful interests at work which prevent policy aspiration from becoming reality, attempts in the UK since 1992 to pay greater attention to health issues, and examples from Europe and Canada, where a similar policy imbalance exists. In conclusion, Hunter sets out the policy implications for the future and offers a way forward based on the concept of managing for health. The approach throughout the book is accessible and user-friendly. It will be essential reading for students of public policy, health studies, social policy and sociology, and will also be invaluable to scholars, policy-makers, and health professionals interested in public health policy in the UK

Author Biography

David Hunter is a Professor of Health Policy and Management at the School for Health, University of Durham.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Boxes	vii
Preface	viii
Acknowledgements	xi
1 Introduction and Approach	1	(30)
Some 'simple truths' about health systems	5	(7)
Policy dilemmas and 'wicked issues'	12	(5)
The politics of health policy	17	(6)
The depoliticization of health policy	23	(4)
The plan of the book	27	(4)
2 The Relationship between Health and Health Care	31	(48)
Introduction	31	(1)
Defining health	32	(3)
The emergence of the new public health	35	(7)
Barriers to progress	42	(3)
Some lessons from Lalonde	45	(1)
The post-Lalonde era	46	(1)
The UK experience	47	(30)
Conclusion	77	(2)
3 Managing Medicine	79	(22)
Introduction	79	(1)
Managing for what?	80	(3)
The new rationalism and health	83	(2)
The rise of managerialism in health policy	85	(2)
Managing doctors	87	(4)
Criticisms of new public management	91	(5)
Implications for health policy	96	(3)
Last word: medicine, management and health	99	(2)
4 Managing for Health	101	(37)
Introduction	101	(2)
What is public health?	103	(2)
The evolution of the public health function	105	(7)
Public health: a specialty or an arena?	112	(5)
Responding to implementation failure	117	(7)
Approaches to joined-up policy and practice	124	(12)
Conclusion	136	(2)
5 Health Policy in a Devolved Polity within Europe	138	(21)
Introduction	138	(1)
The impact of devolution	139	(11)
The impact of Europe	150	(7)
Conclusion	157	(2)
6 Moving out of the Ghetto	159	(23)
Introduction	159	(7)
What is to be done?	166	(5)
Towards implementing a policy for health	171	(5)
Managerial capacity-building	176	(6)
Last word	182	(4)
References	186	(14)
Index	200