Public involvement is a key theme within the post-reform NHS, with an emphasis on involving people in healthcare decision-making, improving accountability to the public, and developing a stronger focus on the consumer. This text seeks to establish a framework for public involvement in healthcare. Focusing on purchasing, the authors describe the central factors driving involvement, and the organizational structures and processes which underpin it. Recommendations are made for the development of effective strategies for public involvement in healthcare purchasing. A discussion of current issues and debates is set within a wider theoretical and historical examination of the concepts of "citizenship and "accountability", detailing the role of the consumer in the context of the major changes in the organization and delivery of public services which have taken place in Britain in the last two decades.

Author Biography

Carol Lupton is Director of the Social Services Research and Information Unit at the University of Portsmouth which undertakes research into most aspects of the organization and delivery of health and social care services. In addition to her work on consumer involvement in health care purchasing, Carol's current research includes an examination of the role of healthcare professionals in the child protection process and a study of the participation of families in child care decision-making via the Family Group Conference model. Stephen Peckham is a Research Fellow in the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of Southampton. He has previously worked in the voluntary sector and local government. Stephen's main research interests include the purchasing and commissioning of healthcare, public involvement in health and social care services, the delivery and organization of primary care and service and policy issues relating to sexual health. Pat Taylor is a senior lecturer in community care in the Faculty of Health and Social Care at the University of the West of England. She has previously worked in social work and in the voluntary sector. Pat's main area research interest is public involvement and she has recently undertaken research on consumer involvement in healthcare and before that she set up and ran the consumer involvement project for Swindon Health Authority.