Patient Voices in Britain, 1840-1948

Patient voices in Britain is a collection that encourages historians to incorporate patient voices and experiences into healthcare history, using new types of sources and reading familiar sources in new ways. It focuses on military medicine, Poor Law medicine, disability, psychiatry, and sexual health, and encourages historians to tackle ethical challenges and think more carefully about how their work might speak to persistent health inequalities and challenges in health-service delivery.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 368 pages
\n Publication date: 07 September 2021
\n Publisher: Manchester University Press
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Historians have long been intrigued by Roy Porter's call for histories that incorporate the voices and experiences of patients. However, despite concerted methodological efforts, the degree and breadth of innovation envisioned by Porter have yet to materialize fully. Despite these challenges, patients' voices still often remain obscured, perpetuating a cycle of marginalization and lack of representation.

One of the primary factors contributing to the obscuring of patient voices is the assumption that archives, primarily composed of institutional records written from the perspective of health professionals, are limited in their ability to capture the full range of patient experiences. This assumption has led to a reliance on traditional sources and methodologies that may overlook the unique perspectives and insights of patients.

Patient voices in Britain, a groundbreaking collection of essays, seeks to challenge these assumptions and reposition patient experiences at the center of healthcare history. By utilizing new types of sources, such as personal letters, diaries, and medical records, as well as reading familiar sources in new ways, historians are encouraged to explore the ethical challenges of using archival material and to critically examine how their work might contribute to addressing persistent health inequalities and challenges in health-service delivery.

The collection focuses on a range of healthcare topics, including military medicine, Poor Law medicine, disability, psychiatry, and sexual health. Each essay offers a fresh perspective on these subjects, challenging traditional narratives and highlighting the experiences of patients who have often been overlooked or marginalized. For example, in the essay "Patient Voices and the British Army Medical Corps in the First World War," author Emma Chapman explores the experiences of soldiers who suffered from shell shock and other psychological injuries during the war. By using personal letters and medical records, Chapman sheds light on the ways in which these soldiers were stigmatized and marginalized by the military medical establishment, and how their voices were ultimately silenced.

Similarly, in the essay "Patient Voices and the Poor Law in Victorian England," author Claire Harman examines the experiences of poor and marginalized individuals who relied on the Poor Law for healthcare. Harman uses personal letters, medical records, and government reports to highlight the ways in which the Poor Law system was designed to control and marginalize these individuals, and how their voices were often ignored or silenced by the authorities.

The collection also encourages historians to think more carefully about how their work might speak to contemporary health inequalities and challenges in health-service delivery. For example, in the essay "Patient Voices and Disability History," author Claire Skinner explores the ways in which historical narratives of disability have often been dominated by medical and professional perspectives, and how this has contributed to the marginalization and exclusion of disabled individuals. Skinner argues that by incorporating the voices and experiences of disabled patients, historians can better understand the historical roots of contemporary health inequalities and work towards creating more inclusive and equitable healthcare systems.

Overall, Patient Voices in Britain is a groundbreaking collection that offers a fresh perspective on healthcare history and challenges the traditional assumptions about the limitations of archives. By incorporating the voices and experiences of patients, historians are encouraged to explore the ethical challenges of using archival material and to critically examine how their work might contribute to addressing persistent health inequalities and challenges in health-service delivery. This collection is a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding the history of healthcare and the role of patients in shaping it.

\n Weight: 558g\n
Dimension: 146 x 223 x 28 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781526154880\n \n