Ethics: Contemporary Challenges in Health and Social Care

 Ethics: Contemporary Challenges in Health and Social Care 
 Edited by Audrey Leathard and Susan McLaren
 Policy Press
 ISBN 978 1 86134 755 8
 £19.99

Ethical issues are at the heart of much of the work in health and social care, writes Keith Popple. In fact it is impossible to satisfactorily undertake the work without a clear ethical framework.

Ethical issues pose particular challenges for practitioners who are often deeply committed to the needs of service users, patients and clients and yet are confronted with systems and resources that do not adequately match their professional ambitions.

This new edited text is a first-rate attempt to demonstrate the importance of ethics in health and social care, and to both inform and encourage debate across these large fields. The book covers area such as: service users and ethics ethical issues in health and social care research ethics and social care – political, organisational and interagency dimensions ethics – caring for children and young people ethical dimensions in caring for people with complex disabilities ethics and older people and ethics and euthanasia.

There is also a chapter covering issues surrounding ethics and the social responsibility of institutions, looking at resource allocation in health and social care in the US, and a chapter on multidisciplinary team practice in law and ethics from an Australian perspective.

Well written and referenced, the chapters are generally strong on theory, research and practice. Most of the contributors are leading commentators and academics in the fields they are writing about.

This is a text to be commended for its scope and depth. It is both accessible and jargon-free, and provides readers with an understanding of some of the challenging issues facing health and social care workers in the UK and elsewhere. Overall, it should prove to be of great value to students and practitioners.

Keith Popple is professor of social work, London South Bank University