Martin Gorsky

Mutualism and health care, newly available in paperback, presents the first comprehensive account of a major innovation in hospital funding before the NHS. The voluntary hospitals, which provided the bulk of Britain’s acute hospital services, diversified their financial base by establishing hospital contributory schemes. Through these, working people subscribed small, regular amounts to their local hospitals, in return for which they were eligible for free hospital care. The book evaluates the extent to which the schemes were successful in achieving comprehensive coverage of the population, funding hospital services, and broadening opportunities for participation in the governance of health care and for the expression of consumer views. It then explores why the option of funding the post-war NHS through mass contribution was rejected, and traces the transformation of the surviving schemes into health cash plans. This is a substantial investigation into the attractions and limitations of mutualism in health care. It is highly relevant to debates about organisational innovations in the delivery of welfare services.

"This clear and informative volume, packed with rich sources and illustrations, will be a must for students and scholars embarking on a study of public health. Covering a range of geographical areas and a wide array of topics, it also succeeds in being challenging and thought-provoking, urging its readers to engage with the ways in which historical research can shape our understanding of current health issues." Professor Hilary Marland, Centre for the History of Medicine, University of Warwick, UK "The great strength of Public Health in History is that its authors show how … history is always a dialogue between the present and the past, and present policy is always informed by understandings of the past. The book is comprehensive in the range of areas covered, yet uses case-studies to explore issues in depth. It will be essential reading for anyone who works or has an interest in public health then and now." Professor Michael Worboys, Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester, UKThis fascinating book offers a wide ranging exploration of the history of public health and the development of health services over the past two centuries. The book surveys the rise and redefinition of public health since the sanitary revolution of the mid-nineteenth century, assessing the reforms in the post World War II years and the coming of welfare states. Importantly, the book also includes:A comparative examination of why healthcare has taken such different trajectories in different countries Case studies on malaria, sexual health, alcohol and substance abuseExercises enabling readers to easily interact with and critically assess historical source materialVisual materials and illustrations ranging from a fifteenth century syphilis sufferer to the 1980s HIV/AIDS mass media campaignsWritten by a team of historians from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, this is the definitive guide for teaching the history of public health and health services. Public Health in History will engage health students, practitioners, policy makers and anyone who would like know more about these crucial areas of public health in countries across the global north and global south. Series Editors: Rosalind Plowman and Nicki Thorogood. Contributors: Maureen Malowany, John Manton and Suzanne Taylor.

A study of the debate over the control of civic charities during the era of municipal reform. The nineteenth-century city was characterised by the development of a wide variety of voluntary associations and institutions which set out to address social problems and promote the public good. This book presents a study of voluntarism in the city of Bristol. Attention is focused first on the long-established endowed charities which funded poor relief, almshouses and schools; the author charts the decline of this form of giving in favour of the new benevolent associations of the eighteenth century, reflecting the centrality of the debate over the control of civic charities during the era of municipal reform. The book moves on to look in more depth at the city's many voluntary organisations and societies, presenting a comprehensive picture of developments up to 1870 in such fields as health, education and missionary work to the poor. This is followed by an analysis of the social impact of voluntary activity, and a survey of the limitations of voluntary sector welfare provision. Martin Gorsky is Senior Lecturer in the History of Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.