Routledge Primary Health Care: People, Practice, Place (Geographies of Health Series)

Health care is constantly undergoing change and refinement resulting from the adoption of new practices and technologies, the changing nature of societies and populations, and also shifts in the very places from which care is delivered. Primary Health Care: People, Practice, Place draws together significant contributions from established experts across a variety of disciplines to focus on such changes in primary health care, not only because it is the most basic and integral form of health service delivery, but also because it is an area to which geographers have made significant contributions and to which other scholars have engaged in 'thinking geographically' about its core concepts and issues. Including perspectives from both consumers and producers, it moves beyond geographical accounts of the context of health service provision through its explicit focus on the practice of primary health care. With arguments well-supported by empirical research, this book will appeal not only to scholars across a range of social and health sciences, but also to professionals involved in health services. Review 'Anyone interested in how a geographical imagination informs our understanding of the delivery of primary care in the developed world will benefit from this collection. Authors from Canada, New Zealand and Britain draw on a rich set of examples to illustrate the intersections of primary care, the people accessing such care, and the settings in which such care is delivered.' Tony Gatrell, Lancaster University, UK 'This book has an international public health flavour and helps to generate discussion and debate by demonstrating the connection between the structure and geographical perspectives of primary health care, the people served and the settings where it is delivered.' Nursing Standard '...this is an excellent introduction to the geography of primary health care and many people should buy, beg or borrow a copy. It is a "good read" for the novice geographer, interested clinician, thoughtful policy maker or health manager who will skim at low level across the health landscapes. There are also those whose professional or academic practice demands that they have an in depth knowledge of a variety of different contexts regarding the health geography of primary care. For them it is a required text.' Health Sociology Review 'This book will be a useful text for public health practitioners, academics and researchers. It is comprehensive and analytical, presenting a synthesis of complex issues with examples of research undertaken in practice. It illuminates the field of primary healthcare theory and practice within the context of the geographies of health in an exemplary way.' Perspectives in Public Health About the Author Valorie A. Crooks is Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University, Canada. Gavin J. Andrews is Professor and Chair of the Department of Health, Aging and Society, McMaster University, Canada.