1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Drugs of abuse Substance misuse is rife in many countries and is one of the major national health problems straining the health care system in England as the number of drug-related hospital admissions due to both legal and illicit drugs increased by 5.7% in 2010 compared to the previous year.1 Drug abuse …
Abstract The essay examines the idea that the patient is the consumer of health care. It assesses the extent to which patients can be seen as ‘consumers’, and also looks at how far this definition of patients succeeds in delivering the patient-centred care that current government guidelines suggest. While the move has, to some extent, …