The human factor: re-organisations in public health policy.

Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England

This article engages with debates about the conceptualisation and practical challenges of patient and public involvement (PPI) in health and social care services. Policy in this area in England has shifted numerous times but increasingly a consumerist discourse seems to override more democratic ideas concerning the relationship between citizens and public services. Recent policy change in Engla...

Whistleblowing: Don’t Encourage It, Prevent It; Comment on “Cultures of Silence And Cultures of Voice: The Role Of Whistleblowing in Healthcare Organisations”

In a recent article, Mannion and Davies argue that there are a multitude of ways in which organizations (such as the National Health Service [NHS]) can deal with wrongdoing or ethical problems, including the formation of policies that encourage and protect would-be whistleblowers. However, it is important to distinguish internal reporting about wrongdoing from whistleblowing proper, because the...

Why Even the Logic of Re-Defined Choice May Still Contradict the Logic of Care in Public Health Systems?

When Whistle-blowers Become the Story: The Problem of the ‘Third Victim’; Comment on “Cultures of Silence and Cultures of Voice: The Role of Whistleblowing in Healthcare Organisations”

In the healthcare context, whistleblowing has come to the fore of political, professional and public attention in the wake of major service scandals and mounting evidence of the routine threats to safety that patients face in their care. This paper offers a commentary and wider contextualisation of Mannion and Davies, ‘Cultures of silence and cultures of voice: the role of whistleblowing in hea...

Factors Influencing Healthcare Service Quality

Background The main purpose of this study was to identify factors that influence healthcare quality in the Iranian context.   Methods Exploratory in-depth individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 222 healthcare stakeholders including healthcare providers, managers, policy-makers, and payers to identify factors affecting the quality of healthcare services provided in Iranian hea...