Mary Ann Elston – författare

Contributors examine the relationship between science and clinical practice; the development, assessment and regulation of health care technologies; and the implications of the 'new genetics'.

This Reader introduces students of sociology and health care to the changing fields of medical knowledge and medical work. Provides a chronicle of reseach in the field of medical knowledge, medical work and health care over the past 25 years. Summarises changes in how health care was delivered and how medical knowledge and practice were conceptualised over this period. Section introductions by the editors situate the articles within a wider body of literature. A valuable resource for student of sociiology, social policy, social work, health policy or health care.

Amid a welter of simultaneous policy initiatives, treatment centres were a top-down NHS innovation that became subverted into a multiplicity of solutions to different local problems. This highly readable account of how and why they evolved with completely unforeseen results reveals clear, practical lessons based on case study research involving over 200 interviews. Policy makers, managers and clinicians undertaking any organisational innovation cannot afford to ignore these findings.