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Incommensurate paradigms? Bridging the divide between technocrats and the lay public in health care planning: recent experience from Wales
Author(s) -
Longley Marcus
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
international journal of consumer studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 1470-6423
DOI - 10.1046/j.1470-6431.2001.00193.x
Subject(s) - technocracy , bridging (networking) , bridge (graph theory) , public involvement , public relations , principal (computer security) , work (physics) , public health , public service , sociology , public administration , political science , medicine , nursing , engineering , politics , law , computer network , computer science , operating system , mechanical engineering
The pressure on the UK National Health Service (NHS) to increase public involvement in the planning of future services has never been greater. Politicians and others argue that ‘lay wisdom’ has much to contribute, and that such involvement is essential if public confidence in the service is to be maintained. Many managers and clinicians, however, operating within an essentially technocratic paradigm, remain unconvinced. Their views are often reinforced by a lack of experience of methods for public involvement that can meet the many practical difficulties involved. Using Arnstein’s ‘ladder of citizen participation’, this paper describes the principal nuances of these two paradigms, explores the nature of the conflict between them, and assesses the extent to which they are really incommensurate. It then briefly describes some of the key methodological principles emerging from public involvement work in parts of the NHS in Wales, and assesses their potential to bridge the divide between the paradigms.