ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to draw on data from a recently completed study of health consumer groups. It explores the link between pain and loss and group formation. It identifies the factors that may explain the more prominent role now being played by health consumer groups in the national level policy process. The main common denominator of the survey data set was that the target population of health consumer groups were people who directly and indirectly, were affected by matters related to a particular aspect of the bodily functioning, illness or suffering. Within the voluntary health sector, particular health consumer groups and certain condition areas were, according to those interviewed, seen as 'insiders' in the policy process. It has been suggested that sociologists of health and illness have much to contribute to investigating the processes through which personal experiences of pain and loss can trigger group formation and collective action.
