ABSTRACT
Health, like the weather, is a favoured topic of conversation in Britain. Every day there are articles in magazines, news items and television dramas and documentaries featuring health and health care. When shopping, we are surrounded by advertisements for products that purport to improve or sustain our health and well-being. Health is vital to every living human being on earth, but what is it? People’s ideas about ‘health’ and why it is important vary; different groups in society have different experiences of health and different approaches and attitudes to using health services. The
organisation of health care services is complicated and seemingly ever changing. This chapter provides a brief introduction to ways of thinking about health, to the health experiences of different demographic groups and to key themes relating to the delivery of health services in Britain. The chapter is split into two sections. The first begins by looking broadly at what we mean by the term ‘health’ before going on to explore health inequalities in relation to socio-economic status, ethnicity and gender. In the second section the focus shifts to look at issues relating to health care. It covers the organisation of the National Health Service (NHS), the issue of ‘quality’ and patient and public involvement in health as three key themes shaping health services in Britain.
