Review

An eclectic scrapbook of snapshots

ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTH CARE: strategic issues in health care management
Rosemary Rushmer, Huw Davies and Manouche Tavakoli (eds)
Ashgate, 2002, £39.95

As the NHS research and development programme starts to turn up the heat under its service delivery and organisation research activities, one can be forgiven for imagining that the book’s title represents a classic example of jumping on a bandwagon.

It comes as some surprise, therefore, to discover that this volume captures output from the fourth conference on ‘Strategic Issues in Health Care Management’, which was held in St Andrews. In actuality, this represents merely a third of the output of the spring 2000 conference, as companion volumes on Health Policy and Economics and Quality in Health Care were published in 2001.

So what are the main organisation development issues confronting health care? Putting aside the obvious limitations of using a two-year old snapshot to navigate an ever-changing topography, the book has a reassuringly contemporaneous feel.

Partnership working, interdisciplinary working, leadership and the obligatory crystal ball-gazing of future trends comprise the four sections into which the 15 chapters are organised.

However, lest we become too enthused about such a compendium, it is worth noting that, as with most conference proceedings, the sections traverse everything from the superbly generalised to the frustratingly eclectic. After all, how, in terms other than the necessity of flying Saint Andrew’s flag over his nominal heritage, can one justify the strategic importance of nine pages on grant funding of voluntary organisations by Scottish health boards?

Contrast this with my own favourite chapter, on a scenario approach to the future of the European health sector, with its almost exemplary setting of both scene and accompanying literature, and the patchwork unevenness of the collection is all too self-evident.

With something for everyone in this curate’s egg of a book, it falls to me to observe the almost insidious onset of, dare I say it, evidence-based management herein. Many chapters manage to include brief literature reviews without adhering too slavishly to a template pattern, and several have extensive coverage of the evaluative literature. Whether this represents the genuine article or merely enough awareness to be seen to be playing the game is open to debate – the ‘Emperor’s clothes’ of one chapter title comes all too readily to mind.

Perhaps future volumes in this conference series will help resolve this particular issue. In the meantime this is a satisfactory, and no doubt warmer, alternative to going to St Andrews in springtime.