ABSTRACT
This chapter does not intend to provide a comprehensive analysis of health policy as a key area within the broad subject of social policy, nor does it provide a discussion of different health care systems. Rather, the main focus is on the phenomenon of socio-economic inequalities, which negatively affects a considerable proportion of social work service users. Thus, the chapter begins by presenting a brief introduction to the concept of health and other associated notions like health care and health care policy, which is followed by an overview of health care provision in the UK as well as of the organisation of the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland. The chapter then examines the phenomenon of socio-economic health inequalities in the UK and the policies developed in order to tackle it, to end considering some of the implications of such inequalities for social work practice.
