Public Health Policy

This volume provides a new and innovative overview of the key
debates relating to public health policy in the UK at a time when
concern over public health has never been greater. Mounting public
disquiet over a range of crises, such as foot and mouth, BSE and
other food safety issues, public transport, pollution, obesity and
the environment have fuelled this renewed interest. Yet, health
policy remains preoccupied with health-care services.

In this book, David Hunter explains that, while they are
important, health-care services are not the principal determinants
of health. Why then, do they absorb the bulk of resources and
attention of policy-makers? The reasons for the extraordinary
difficulties encountered in putting health before health care are
multiple and complex. Separate chapters cover a range of issues,
including: the relationship between health and health care,
health-care management and the powerful interests at work which
prevent policy aspiration from becoming reality, attempts in the UK
since 1992 to pay greater attention to health issues, and examples
from Europe and Canada, where a similar policy imbalance exists. In
conclusion, Hunter sets out the policy implications for the future
and offers a way forward based on the concept of managing for
health.

The approach throughout the book is accessible and
user-friendly. It will be essential reading for students of public
policy, health studies, social policy and sociology, and will also
be invaluable to scholars, policy-makers, and health professionals
interested in public health policy in the UK.