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The allied health professions have gained legitimacy through the pursuit of research evidence and the standardisation of practice. Yet there remains very little analysis or understanding of these professions.
Adopting theory from the sociology of health professions, this unique text explores the sociological, economic, political and philosophical pressures that have shaped the professions. Drawing on case studies and examples from occupations including optometrists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists to emerging vocations, including pedorthists and allied health assistants, this book offers an innovative comparison of allied health professions in Australia and Britain.
By telling the story of their past, this original book prepares the allied health professions for a new and different future.
Health care support workers (HSWs) play a fundamental role in international health care systems, and yet they remain largely invisible. Despite this, the number of HSWs is growing fast as governments strive to combat illness and address social care issues in a world of finite resources.
This original collection analyses the global experience of HSWs in the UK, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, Sweden and The Netherlands. Leading academics examine issues including the interface of HSWs with the health professions, regulatory practice risks, employment challenges and the dilemmas of an ageing population. Crucial future policy recommendations are also made for a world becoming increasingly dependent on HSWs.
There are significant variations in how healthcare systems and health professionals are regulated globally. One feature that they increasingly have in common is an emphasis on the value of including members of the public in quality assurance processes. While many argue that this will help better serve the public interest, others question how far the changing regulatory reform agenda is still dominated by medical interests.
Bringing together leading academics worldwide, this collection compares and critically examines the ways in which different countries are regulating healthcare in general, and health professions in particular, in the interest of users and the wider public. It is the first book in the Sociology of Health Professions series.
This timely comparative study assesses the role of medical doctors in reforming publicly funded health services in England and Canada.
Respected authors from health and legal backgrounds on both sides of the Atlantic consider how the high status of the profession uniquely influences reforms. With summaries of developments in models of care, and the participation of doctors since the inception of publicly funded healthcare systems, they ask whether professionals might be considered allies or enemies of policy-makers.
With insights for future health policy and research, the book is an important contribution to debates about the complex relationship between doctors and the systems in which they practice.
, disability, education, social and/or other systems or schemes. Practise within an evidence-based paradigm. Representation by a peak body with members in at least five Australian states or territories, and a constitution that specifies a national mandate. Variations arise in the type of governing body involved in recognising, monitoring and enforcing these attributes. For instance, in Australia, there are several self-regulating professions that experience little interference from the state, with some receiving no state funding, while the UK NHS only recognises
processes have evolved. In New Zealand, a single health complaints entity, the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC), serves the entire country. The HDC was created by the Health and Disability Commissioner Act, which was enacted in October 1994. The first Commissioner, Robyn Stent, was appointed in December 1994. At the time of writing, the Australian health complaints entities include the: • Health and Community Services Complaints Commission (Northern Territory); • Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner (South Australia); 223 Health
personal assistants might include heavy lifting on their own and working a few hours in the morning and a few in the evening when the service users need more assistance. Professional vs user-controlled services Normalisation and integration have been the ideological guiding principles of Swedish disability policy from the late 1960s. However, during the 1980s, welfare services for disabled people were criticised, both in Sweden and in other countries. One of the most dynamic actors in this debate was the Independent Living Movement, which criticised the
, informal carers Informal carers include family members, friends or networks of multiple informal carers who share ongoing caring responsibilities without pay for a few hours a week or round the clock ( Carers UK 2015 ). Informal carers live inside or outside the household of the person requiring help. They can be neighbours or teenagers looking after parents with a terminal illness, young people caring for siblings with drug addictions, parents looking after children with physical or mental disabilities, or an elderly person caring for a dementia-ridden spouse. Such
-reported health, injury rates and severity, disability, medical conditions), and education and training variables (highest level of education, relevance of education, years of experience). It next describes PSW job characteristics and how these affect labour market outcomes, including work status (full-time, part-time and casual status, as well as schedule and shift types), hours worked, wages, unionisation, benefits and pensions. Relevant differences by location (by province and urban versus rural) are also described where data are available. The importance of the labour
and has a directive role in health care ( Saks 2015 ), followed by historically subordinated groups like nurses ( Borsay and Hunter 2012 ) and allied health professionals with limited jurisdiction such as dieticians and physiotherapists ( Larkin 2002 ). Social workers are also included in this analysis in the book in so far as they can be conceptualised as part of a caring profession operating within wider definitions of health and wellbeing, with a direct impact on quality of life in such areas as mental health and disability ( Lishman et al 2018 ). Drawing on a
