Product Description

This updated version of a popular text covers all major aspects of contemporary health care in Britain. It provides a concise guide to recent trends in health and health services, identifies the main problems and challenges facing the health care system today, and analyses the responses of policy makers. Lively, readable and illustrated throughout with appropriate tables, figures, and exhibits, the book provides both an information account for the introductory student and a thoughtful commentary for those more familiar with the health care system.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #685465 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

Welcome New Edition of a much used Text
Those of us who have used Rob Baggott's text with our students will welcome this new edition with pleasure and a certain amount of relief. Where else could we get a book which combines a sound outline of policy developments and institutions with a lively appreciation of political issues and contexts? It's added topicality preserves its preeminent position as the ideal text for undergraduate students. In my experience it appeals to professional students such as nurses and occupational therapists as much as specialist social science students. It can be read straight through for a broad and relaible picture of the world of health politics or it can be selectively used. The sections provide good introductions to topic areas and lead the student into appropriate further reading. The updating of material, as the new bibliography indicates, has been done with great care and has involved a great deal of effort, yet he new material has been added into the text in a seamless way so that the arguments are never overwhelmed. Even professional students of health politics will find the book useful in filling in areas of ignorance. Similarly the general reader, interested in health policy, will find no more reliable and readable introduction. If students will buy only one text this should be the one.

comprehensive, useful and readable!
This is an excellent book which covers all the major areas of current social policy within healthcare. It is also so much more readable than comparable texts- the author has made complex subjects as straightforward as they could be and without dumbing down the content. The only reason I haven't given this 5 stars is that the subject matter quickly dates- make sure you get the most recent edition.

Brilliant text book
I am a postgraduate 'professional' student of Health Policy. I am reading it 'straight through' but it could also be used to dip into. It is an excellent read. Very straightforward and easy to understand. It makes use of real-life examples throughout the text to illustrate the points. Would thoroughly recommend to anyone studying health policy or similar.