Incorporating the latest developments from the field, this eagerly awaited new edition once again provides an important and comprehensive analysis of the key issues in public health. Exploring the underlying political context and policy processes, this text is core reading for all those interested in the essentials of this area.

Speaking for Patients and Carers draws on original research and is based on a theoretical framework taken from sociology and politics. It examines health consumer groups in the context of specific conditions: Arthritis and related conditions, cancer, heart and circulatory disease, maternity and childbirth, and mental health. It also analyzes their interaction with government, health professionals and the media, and assesses their impact on policy.

In recent years the pace of reform in health policy and the NHS has been relentless. But how are policies formed and implemented? This exciting new book takes a fresh look at the processes and institutions that make health policy, examining such questions as what constitutes health policy, where power lies, and what changes could be made to improve the quality of health policy making?Based on original research, including a series of in-depth interviews with health policy actors, the book examines the role of various institutions in the formation and implementation of health policy. It...