Böcker av David J. Hunter

Focusing on the British NHS, this book reviews the key contemporary debates concerning health systems.

This book challenges the assumption that all health services are inherently subject to rationing as demand invariably outstrips supply and examines this within a comparative framework.

The UK government's reforms of the NHS and public health system require partnerships if they are to succeed. Those partnerships concerned with public health are especially important and are deemed to be a 'good thing' which add, rather than consume, value. Yet the significant emphasis on partnership working to secure effective policy and service delivery exists despite the evidence testifying to how difficult it is to make partnerships work or achieve results. Partnership working in public health presents the findings from a detailed study of public health partnerships in England. The lessons from the research are used to explore the government's changes in public health now being implemented, most of which centre on new partnerships called Health and Wellbeing Boards that have been established to work differently from their predecessors.The book assesses their likely impact and the implications for the future of public health partnerships. Drawing on systems thinking, it argues that partnerships can only succeed if they work in quite different ways. The book will therefore appeal to the public health community and students of health policy.

Health systems everywhere are experiencing rapid change in response to new threats to health, including from lifestyle diseases, risks of pandemic flu, and the global effects of climate change but health inequalities continue to widen. Such developments have profound implications for the future direction of public health policy and practice. The public health system in England offers a wide-ranging, provocative and accessible assessment of challenges confronting a public health system, exploring how its parameters have shifted and what the origins of dilemmas in public health practice are. The book will therefore appeal to public health professionals and students of health policy, potentially engaging them in political and social advocacy.

Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of disability among older adults affecting upward of 1 in 8 adults. This issue will cover epidemiology, imaging, disease management and modification, and many more topics.

Features such article topics as: Epidemiology of Osteoarthritis; Age-Related Changes in the Musculoskeletal System and the Development of Osteoarthritis; The Contribution of Osteoarthritis to Disability; Etiology and Assessment of Disability in Older Adults; and, Quality of Osteoarthritis Care for Community-Dwelling Older Adults.