towards his maintenance, and is asked to do so, nor the fact that a hospital patient can well afford to pay for treatment, and is expected to do so, vitiate the essentially voluntary character of the great bulk of the work in that hospital, which is certainly primarily intended for and mainly used by those who cannot afford to pay for such treatment. Any such payments are, of course, quite volu...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the benefits of a social prescribing service for older people with sensory impairments experiencing social isolation. The paper draws on the findings from a 12-week programme run by Sense, a voluntary sector organisation, and illustrates how integrated services, combining arts-based participation and voluntary sector support, can create positiv...

This study identifies the potential and limitations of contracting to improve health care management, accountability and quality, and expand the participation of teaching hospitals in the health service network in the context of the Restructuring Program of Teaching Hospitals in the Brazilian Unified Health System. It is a case study of four teaching hospitals and their contracting State Health...

Purpose:There has been a slow but sure shift in the way health care delivery is being perceived, by both providers and patients. Patients aredemanding better quality of health care delivery both for the in-patient services, outpatient services or evenpreventive care.Health care is a rapidly growing sector which has gained much attention from researchers andpractitioners worldwide. Due to tremen...

Non-profit organizations represent an important institutional avenue for delivering social services in contemporary Australia. Moreover, a voluminous theoretical literature exists on the voluntary sector in advanced countries. However, relatively little effort has thus far been expended on the empirical assessment of the main models of non-profit organizational behaviour. Using 2003 survey data...

Accreditation is usually a voluntary program, in which authorized external peer reviewers evaluate the compliance of a health care organization with pre-established performance standards. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature of the attitude of health care professionals towards professional accreditation. A systematic search of four databases including Medline, Embas...

T HERE are many differences of opinion about the extent and value of voluntary insurance against sickness. The conflicts mainly concern different estimates of the number of insurance policies in force, the number of different individuals insured, the comprehensiveness of their insurance contracts, and the net value of their insurance protection. In contrast to the difficulties of obtaining undu...

AIM This study evaluates quasi-compulsory drug treatment (QCT) arrangements for substance-dependent offenders receiving treatment instead of imprisonment in comparison to voluntary treatment within five European countries. METHODS Participants were interviewed with the European Addiction Severity Index, the ASI-crime module, questions on perception of pressure and self-efficacy, and the Readi...

Examining electronic services both as products and as organization, this chapter discusses the development and management of e-services at Roskilde University, Denmark. The services in question can be distinguished according to purpose into products meant for administration, communication, education, and integration. The chapter discusses several examples of e-services from the point of view of...

This paper is a record of the outcome of a focus group discussion in which 22 leprosy-affected self-help group facilitators related their experiences and attitudes associated with leprosy services which they voluntarily undertake. Enthusiasm to undertake leprosy services was general. The principal rewards for participation in such activities appear to have been social ascendance and self-esteem...