New structures and principles in health services

In almost four years, since the companion volume (Booth and Walton, 2000) to this title was first published, the fast rate of change in health has continued apace. The approach taken in Walton (2000) has again been applied in identifying broad sociological, technological, economic and political trends. This chapter provides a perspective on what is shaping the health sector in 2004, informed by a workshop (Herman, 2003) organised by the United Kingdom’s Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) This workshop identified key issues facing health librarians.