This remarkable book had an immediate impact on me.
As a patient activist aiming to improve health services, useful information had often been too difficult to obtain. I had felt like a lone voice pushing against brick walls, as controlled and disenfranchised as women from an earlier age who sought voting rights.. Sometimes there seemed to be a deliberate ‘Them and Us’ policy which kept patients in their place to prevent upsetting the status quo. Genuine patient centred care seemed an unobtainable goal.
Over the following years, although official policy directed healthcare providers towards patient-centredness and doctor-patient groups brought joint working, even small improvements came slowly and often melted away as personnel changed roles.
However, increasing numbers of patient representatives worked alongside health professionals at national level which fostered understanding, mutual respect and trust. Sadly, this was not the case countrywide.Despite apparent acknowledgement of the need for change, there were often plenty of words, but no deeds; tantalising improvements dissipated like scorched summer mist, while patients’ poor experiences of healthcare illustrated that patient harm, even if inadvertent, continued to occur. Why?
As I turned the pages of this important work, I realised why it felt like the final missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It was precisely what had been needed for so long, and the key to achieving patient centred healthcare modernisation.
This brave book not only discusses how unintentional patient harm can be caused by doctors, and even managers, but dares to suggest how improvement and change can be achieved.
The well-structured, rich content explains the author’s theory of the need for patients’ emancipation, while clarity of thought and reasoned argument backed by a wealth of examples and detailed information all lead in planned sequence to the final chapter, Chapter 7. This includes stress that doctors experience as well as steps that ‘interest holders’ such as patients, doctors and managers can take to help patients’ emancipation.
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We are all potential patients, so this remarkable book could be useful for everyone. It would not be an over-statement to say this superb work not only deserves to be an essential part of medical education, but also recognised as an important foundation for modernising patient-centred care.
Mitzi Blennerhassett
You can download the promotional flyer here.
Or read ‘The Radius’ review here.
Buy direct from the publisher by emailing design@quacks.info or by calling 01904 635967
Or buy from Amazon.co.uk here.
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Patients’ Emancipation:
Towards Equality
Charlotte Williamson
Published 2021 ISBN 978-1-912728-36-7
Softback: 170 pages printed on 100gsm bookwove, chosen for its sustainabilty.
“An engaging and interesting argument around the thought that patients are subject to a subtle form of oppression that they haven’t actually realised is in existence. The narrative will undoubtedly intrigue a wide audience. The work is well-structured, allowing the story to build progressively into a multi-layered scenario of relatable events and circumstances, leaving the reader hungry to continue reading.”
Jessica Kingsley, Publishers.
“It provides both an academic and an experiential insight.”
Professor Rob Baggott, Professor of Public Policy at De Montfort University.
Bafflingly, in spite of their good intentions, doctors and managers can sometimes harm patients. Thisharm ranges from major instances of bodily damage, like those reported in the Cumberlege Review of 2020 and the many ‘hospital scandals’ before it, to minor instances of inconsiderate or patronising behaviour. But neither doctors nor patients are usually aware of what lies beneath these distressingactions. What can explain this? The author’s emancipation theory, drawing on social, structural, andpersonal factors, can. This book develops that theory, illustrating it with everyday examples. It offerspatients themselves, doctors and managers ways to work towards emancipating patients from oppressive attitudes and unjust restrictions.
Preface and Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 Introduction to patients’ emancipation
Chapter 2 Patients take action : ideas and principles
Chapter 3 Patients specialise : roles and relationships
Chapter 4 Doctors respond
Chapter 5 Enter managers
Chapter 6 The political trio: patients, doctors, and managers
Chapter 7 Concluding thoughts : a new model?
Postscript The corona-19 pandemic
References
Index
Patients’ Emancipation: Towards Equality
£15.00 includes p&p ISBN 978-1-912728-36-7
obtainable direct from the publisher Quacks Books:
Quacks Books, 7 Grape Lane, Petergate, York YO1 7HU
E: design@quacks.info T: 01904 635967 or visit:
http://radiusonline.info/patients-emancipation-towards-equality/
through your local bookseller, or via Amazon.co.uk:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Patients-Emancipation-Equality-Charlotte-Williamson/dp/1912728362/ref=sr_1_1
Softback: 170 pages printed on 100gsm bookwove, chosen for its sustainabilty.
