[interphen] Workshop: the NHS as 'Civil Association'
- From: Angus Dawson <a.j.dawson@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: InterPHEN <INTERPHEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:23:01 +0000
Spring 2012 Conference
THE NHS AS “CIVIL ASSOCIATION”
13TH & 14TH APRIL 2012
BRITISH SCHOOL OF OSTEOPATHY
275 BOROUGH HIGH STREET
LONDON SE1 1JEE
Since its conception in the 1940s, the nature and purpose of the UK welfare
state has been interpreted in two complementary ways.
On the one hand, the welfare state may be understood as a set of institutions
justified by their contribution to the efficiency of the UK economy. On such a
view, the NHS addresses the need to care for workers: curing, repairing and
returning them to productive activity should they fall ill or be injured.
On the other, it can be seen as an expression of communal solidarity,
expressing a sense of moral obligation that citizens feel for each other. As
such, it is more than simply a contract between citizens; it is an expression
of a sense of collective identity; in the words of the British philosopher
Michael Oakeshott (1901-1990) a “civil association”.
The 6th event organised by the Think About Health network will seek to explore
this tension, and in particular to address the dangers that arise when
instrumental or economic justifications of the NHS come to be dominant.
To see the NHS as a civil association, and thus as a fundamentally moral
institution, is to inquire into the place that it plays in the sense of
communal solidarity and identity of British communities. This in turn is to
address questions as to the place that the NHS has in British society.
Is the NHS to be understood merely as an efficient resource for the economy? Or
is it grounded in something broader and more compassionate? What should its
priorities be? What is the nature of the relationships that do and should exist
between staff, patients and other members of the community?
Through a series of talks and small group work, we will seek to explore our
understanding of the NHS and how that understanding shapes our day to day
practice as medical professionals, as patients and potential patients, and as
concerned members of the public.
ABOUT THE THINK ABOUT HEALTH NETWORK
Think About Health is an interdisciplinary network of professionals, users and
academics that aims to improve the ‘intellectual plumbing’ of the NHS as well
participants’ own thinking and practice.
For more information, including updates on confirmed speakers and how to book a
place at the conference, please visit our website www.thinkabouthealth.net
-
Angus Dawson,
Professor of Public Health Ethics,
Head of Medicine, Ethics, Society & History (MESH),
90, Vincent Drive,
School of Health & Population Sciences,
College of Medical and Dental Sciences,
University of Birmingham,
Edgbaston,
Birmingham,
B15 2TT.
UK.
Email: a.j.dawson@xxxxxxxxxx
Tel: +44 (0) 121 414 2957
Web: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/angus-dawson
IAB 11th Congress: 26th-29th June 2012. Rotterdam
http://bioethicsrotterdam.com/
Recent publication: A. Dawson (ed.) Public Health Ethics: Key Concepts in
Policy and Practice. Cambridge University Press.
See: www.cambridge.org/9780521689366
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