1st Edition

Contemporary Issues in Health and Social Care Policy and Practice A Comparative Introduction

Edited By Julia Morgan, Vincent La Placa Copyright 2025
270 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

270 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

270 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This accessible text presents a comparative analysis of health and social care policy and practice from around the world, with learning points drawn out for the UK. It supports readers to improve practice by reflecting on differences and similarities in the policies of other OECD countries. Divided into two parts, the book opens with a focus on core concepts in health and social care policy and... Read more

Part I

 

Chapter 1:  Introduction

Julia Morgan and Vincent La Placa

 

Chapter 2: Theories of Social Policy and Welfare States 

Vincent La Placa and Lotta Hackett  

Chapter 3: Health and Social Care Funding Across the OECD

Paul McCrone

 

Chapter 4:  Towards a Definitional Framework of Wellbeing in Health and Social Care Research, Policy, and Practice

Vincent La Placa 

 

Chapter 5: Health Inequalities 

Nadya Belenky 

 

Chapter 6: Partnership Working in Health and Social Care

Julia Morgan and Jackie Yaskey

 

Chapter 7: Service User Involvement in Health and Social Care: Understanding Power Relations and the Political Nature of Participation

Julia Morgan

 

Part II

 

Chapter 8: Health, Social Care, and Homelessness 

Nicholas Pleace

 

 

 

Chapter 9: Domestic Violence and Abuse 

Dana Sammut and Caroline Bradbury-Jones

 

Chapter 10: Substance Use and Policy across the OECD 

John Foster and Betsy Thom

 

Chapter 11: Health Inequalities and People with Intellectual Disabilities

Genevieve Breau

 

Chapter 12: Women in Prison 

Julia Morgan

 

Chapter 13: End of Life Care Policy Across the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and Romania

Panagiotis Pentaris

 

Chapter 14: Dental Services Across the Four Nations of the United Kingdom

Charlotte Jeavons and Maria Morgan

 

Chapter 15: Emerging Long-Term Care Systems: Learning from Comparison

Cassandra Simmons, Johanna Fischer and Kai Leichsenring

 

Chapter 16: Refugees and Migrants: Health Policies in OECD Countries

Floor Christie-de Jong

 

Chapter 17: Loneliness 

Julia Morgan and Vincent La Placa

 

Chapter 18:  Conclusion: Comparative Perspectives on Health and Social Care Policy and Practice across OECD Countries

Vincent La Placa and Julia Morgan

 

Biography

Julia Morgan is an associate professor for public health and wellbeing. She has previously worked on a child development study, and for several non-government organisations which support families with young children and community participation. Her primary research interests focus upon social justice and inequality; nomadic and Indigenous peoples; Gypsy, Roma and Travellers; rural and remote health; loneliness; gender; maternal and child health; community development; and wellbeing among people who are imprisoned. She is currently researching ADHD late diagnosis in adult women. She is the co-editor, with Vincent La Placa, of the Routledge book Social Science Perspectives on Global Public Health.

Vincent La Placa is associate professor of public health and policy and associate head of school for student success in the School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich. He has been a senior research consultant at the Department of Health (now DHSC) where he managed the qualitative strand of the Healthy Foundations Life-stage Segmentation Model, one of the largest pieces of qualitative research conducted across UK government. He co-edited the book Social Science Perspectives on Global Public Health with Julia Morgan, published in 2023. He is an honorary fellow of Eurasia Research’s Teaching, Education and Research Association.