Three Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems?
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Sally Ruane
Abstract
This chapter suggests that health policy under ‘New Labour’ is not entirely what it seems, exploring a number of contradictions in health policy and the role of ‘spin’ in government at the same time. It asks how it is that, despite Labour’s health policy being more radical than even the previous Conservative Thatcher government, there is relatively little debate around the direction of policy, even despite the British people’s emotional attachment to the NHS. It suggests that Labour’s presentation of their health policy has been extremely important in understanding these tensions because they have managed to present their reforms as modernisation rather than privatisation, they have been able to claim significant increases in health expenditure, which again act as a distraction from their increased use of non-public providers of healthcare, and finally, that ministers have claimed to have achieved far greater say in the NHS despite the absence of virtually any kind of accountability checks in Labour’s reforms.
Abstract
This chapter suggests that health policy under ‘New Labour’ is not entirely what it seems, exploring a number of contradictions in health policy and the role of ‘spin’ in government at the same time. It asks how it is that, despite Labour’s health policy being more radical than even the previous Conservative Thatcher government, there is relatively little debate around the direction of policy, even despite the British people’s emotional attachment to the NHS. It suggests that Labour’s presentation of their health policy has been extremely important in understanding these tensions because they have managed to present their reforms as modernisation rather than privatisation, they have been able to claim significant increases in health expenditure, which again act as a distraction from their increased use of non-public providers of healthcare, and finally, that ministers have claimed to have achieved far greater say in the NHS despite the absence of virtually any kind of accountability checks in Labour’s reforms.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
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Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
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Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
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Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- List on contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Education policy and policy making, 1997–2009 13
- Children’s social care under New Labour 31
- Health policy under New Labour: not what it seems? 51
- Towards a social democratic pension system? Assessing the significance of the 2007 and 2008 Pensions Acts1 71
- Minimum income standards and household budgets 97
-
Current issues and debates
- Re-connecting with ‘what unemployment means’: employability, the experience of unemployment and priorities for policy in an era of crisis 121
- Facing the ‘dark side’ of deregulation? The politics of two-tier labour markets in Germany and Japan after the global financial crisis 149
- ‘Flexibility’, xenophobia and exploitation: modern slavery in the UK 173
- Mi Familia Progresa: change and continuity in Guatemala’s social policy 199
-
Service user involvement
- Service users and social policy: developing different discussions, challenging dominant discourses 227
- Participation and social justice 253
- Involving disabled children and young people in research and consultations: issues, challenges and opportunities 275
- Responding to unhappy childhoods in the UK: enhancing young people’s ‘well-being’ through participatory action research 291
- Service users as peer research interviewers: why bother? 317
- Index 337
