CfP: Patient Voices
Patient Voices: Historical and Ethical Engagement with Patient Experiences of Healthcare, 1850–1948
An interdisciplinary, policy-focused symposium at New College, University of Oxford
18–19 September 2017
In 1948, diverse health provisions in Britain were consolidated into a
single, state-directed service. After almost seventy years of the
NHS—the bedrock of modern welfare—there is great concern about any
return to a mixed economy of healthcare. The proposed privatisation of
health services is controversial because it threatens to destabilise the
complex relationships of patients with medical professionals and the
state. It calls into question the structure and accessibility of
healthcare, as well as the rights of patients, both as medical consumers
and sources of medical data. Yet these are questions that equally
shaped the development of the NHS prior to its foundation. Historical
perspectives on pre-NHS healthcare—perspectives that are increasingly
informed by the experiences of patients—are fundamental to understanding
not just the past but also the choices before us.
Social historians of medicine have responded in various ways to Roy
Porter’s 1985 call for histories incorporating the patient view. But
despite work across diverse fields, patient voices before 1948 are yet
to be fully integrated into historical scholarship. This
symposium brings together historians, medical ethicists and archivists
with interdisciplinary expertise to explore questions relating to the
accessibility and ethics of the study of patient voices and data in the
specific context of pre-NHS provisions. Through research presentations,
roundtable discussions and interactive sessions, participants will
explore the collection and qualitative use of historical medical
records. The symposium will focus on methodological issues by
investigating a range of available archives and piloting new strategies
for retrieving as-yet-unheard historical patient voices. It will also
address ethical issues arising from these pilot strategies, including
questions of data protection, informed consent and the implications of
new technologies in storing and analysing information.
Following the symposium, participants will be invited to submit articles for a special issue.
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers that address one or more of the following questions:
- How should historians access and interpret the experiences of patients, particularly those with stigmatising conditions?
- How can historians negotiate archival ‘silences’ when locating patient voices?
- What can patient experiences tell historians about past, present and
future interactions between healthcare consumers and providers?
- How can the study of historical patient experiences inform the
social, political and clinical dimensions of healthcare in the future?
- What ethical considerations should inform the collection, maintenance
and use of sensitive medical archives, including digitisation, data
analytics and discourse analysis?
- How can attention to these ethical considerations shape the study of
healthcare and facilitate high-quality medical-humanities research?
Proposals should not exceed 300 words and should be accompanied by a
short biography. Please submit them to Anne Hanley (University of
Oxford) and Jessica Meyer (University of Leeds) at patientvoicesproject@gmail.com by 1 April 2017.