This is the concise, accessible guide for students and practitioners who want a comprehensive introduction to health and social care. Engaging practical features, such as user-focused case studies and reflective exercises, promote understanding of theoretical and conceptual knowledge. In turn, clear explanations of social policy theory help frame the policy and practice dilemmas faced by students, front-line workers and policy makers. Chapters cover partnership working and integrated care, independent living, disability and long-term conditions, discrimination, user involvement and support for carers. This new edition has been updated to cover key developments under the Coalition and beyond, including the 2012 Health Act, the 2014 Care Act, the Francis inquiry, the Winterbourne View abuse scandal, the integrated care agenda and the impact of austerity.

The new edition of the best-selling reader Understanding Health and Social Care combines classic works with newly commissioned material, offering readers unparalleled coverage of the key issues in health and social care. The breadth of material encompasses voices of service users, professional and lay carers, as well as academics and researchers. This Second Edition is organised into four new parts, each with a part introduction pulling together the main themes: " Part 1: People focuses on those who use and provide health and social care services " Part 2: Places focuses on where care takes place " Part 3: Approaches considers different ways through which care takes places " Part 4: Ideas focuses on the ideas and policies that underpin care provision Full of real practice scenarios and examples, the book successfully makes the links between theory and practice, and will be an essential resource for all students studying at undergraduate level across the wide spectrum of health and social care.

This book examines the current state of American health care using a social science lens to focus on the interdependent, intercultural, economic, and communication aspects of access and delivery. This text explores how the cultures of health care organizations, health professions, governments, and capitalism, as well as communication, all contribute to a disease-focused, economically driven, technology-centered health care system. It seeks to understand 21st century health care from a macro-level view based on historical realizations and the current plethora of interdependent, but self-serving realities that provide few, if any, incentives for organizational collaboration and change. The fact that the most expensive health care system in the world does not provide the healthiest outcomes is a driving force in this exploration. By reflecting on American values and beliefs regarding health care from philosophical, clinical, communication, and cost perspectives, this text is designed to encourage an organizational transformation at every level, from government to providers to patients. This comprehensive survey is an important guide for those studying, or working in, health care professions, as well as health care policy and administration. It should also be of interest to any reader who seeks to better understand U.S. health care policy from social science, economic, and/or health communication perspectives.

Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health was released in September 2019, before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020. Improving social conditions remains critical to improving health outcomes, and integrating social care into health care delivery is more relevant than ever in the context of the pandemic and increased strains placed on the U.S. health care system. The report and its related products ultimately aim to help improve health and health equity, during COVID-19 and beyond. The consistent and compelling evidence on how social determinants shape health has led to a growing recognition throughout the health care sector that improving health and health equity is likely to depend â€" at least in part â€" on mitigating adverse social determinants. This recognition has been bolstered by a shift in the health care sector towards value-based payment, which incentivizes improved health outcomes for persons and populations rather than service delivery alone. The combined result of these changes has been a growing emphasis on health care systems addressing patients' social risk factors and social needs with the aim of improving health outcomes. This may involve health care systems linking individual patients with government and community social services, but important questions need to be answered about when and how health care systems should integrate social care into their practices and what kinds of infrastructure are required to facilitate such activities. Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation's Health examines the potential for integrating services addressing social needs and the social determinants of health into the delivery of health care to achieve better health outcomes. This report assesses approaches to social care integration currently being taken by health care providers and systems, and new or emerging approaches and opportunities; current roles in such integration by different disciplines and organizations, and new or emerging roles and types of providers; and current and emerging efforts to design health care systems to improve the nation's health and reduce health inequities.

This introductory text provides a wide-ranging collection of key readings in the field of health and social care. The book features classic readings alongside articles reflecting the most recent theoretical and empirical work. Cutting across the conventional divide between health care and social care, the Reader sets out to link policy to practice in a tangible way, juxtaposing the voices of a range of carers and service users with insights from academic debate and research. The Reader is divided into five sections focusing on: the experience of caring or being cared for; the environment in which care takes place; the ways in which care has been conceptualized; issues of abuse in care settings; and the pol

How do communities protect and improve the health of their populations? Health care is part of the answer but so are environmental protections, social and educational services, adequate nutrition, and a host of other activities. With concern over funding constraints, making sure such activities are efficient and effective is becoming a high priority. Improving Health in the Community explains how population-based performance monitoring programs can help communities point their efforts in the right direction. Within a broad definition of community health, the committee addresses factors surrounding the implementation of performance monitoring and explores the "why" and "how to" of establishing mechanisms to monitor the performance of those who can influence community health. The book offers a policy framework, applies a multidimensional model of the determinants of health, and provides sets of prototype performance indicators for specific health issues. Improving Health in the Community presents an attainable vision of a process that can achieve community-wide health benefits.

As a field, health and social care is facing considerable challenge and debate, in the UK and internationally. This clear and succinct text offers a valuable introductory guide to this multidisciplinary subject, helping people who want to study or work in health and social care understand why these services matter, how they have developed and how they work. Framed by vital historical and social policy context, the book considers: · The social context in which health and social care are delivered · The history and nature of current services · Organising, funding and delivering services · How to be a professional in practice Including chapter summaries and links to further reading, this text will be invaluable to undergraduate students on programmes in Health and Social Care, Social Work, Nursing, Allied Health Professions, Social Policy and related applied social science subjects, as well as to A-level and Foundation programmes prior to University.