ABSTRACT
This chapter describes hospital work generally, and identifies the hierarchical nature of all occupations in the National Health Service (NHS). It examines the detail of hospital ancillary work including the historical background to the organization of ancillary work. The chapter discusses the initial research was based around two branches of National Union of public employees and two branches of confederation of health service employees (COHSE), and the background to each of hospital work and trade unions. COHSE originated among nursing staff of mental hospitals, an association which continues today with a considerable membership among psychiatric nurses in the NHS. Women's participation within trade unions is increasing, although women's participation rates decrease in the upper levels of union hierarchies. Community was a small general hospital, situated in the less affluent south part of a rural town, on a main residential road running from the centre.
