Wanted: politicians to champion health (not obesity).

Consumers or Citizens? Whose Voice Will Healthwatch Represent and Will It Matter?; Comment on “Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England”

Efforts to achieve effective and meaningful patient and public involvement (PPI) in healthcare have existed for nearly a century, albeit with limited success. This brief commentary discusses a recent paper by Carter and Martin exploring the “Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England,” and places these challenges in the context of the broader struggle to give a voice to h...

Parents' champions vs. vested interests: Who do parents believe about MMR? A qualitative study

BACKGROUND Despite the Government acting quickly to reassure parents about MMR safety following the publication of the 1998 paper by Wakefield and colleagues, MMR uptake declined. One of the reasons suggested for this decline is a loss of public trust in politicians and health professionals. The purpose of this analysis was to examine parents' views on the role the media, politicians and health...

Martin McKee: champion of public health in Europe.

McKee's laptop is always running while he travels, and he is known for his “legendary ability to write influential and original articles at lightning speed”, says Andy Haines, Professor of Public Health and Primary Care at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), where McKee is also based. As Professor of European Public Health, McKee is bold and outspoken: he issues unapolog...

Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England

This article engages with debates about the conceptualisation and practical challenges of patient and public involvement (PPI) in health and social care services. Policy in this area in England has shifted numerous times but increasingly a consumerist discourse seems to override more democratic ideas concerning the relationship between citizens and public services. Recent policy change in Engla...

Of Politicians and Technocrats, and Why Global Health Scholars Are Inevitably a Bit of Both: A Response to Recent Commentaries