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Final published version
Licence: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Describing failures of healthcare
T2 - a study in the sociology of knowledge
AU - Goodwin, Dawn
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Qualitative Research, 21, 3 (2021), 2021, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2020 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Qualitative Research page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/QRJ on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - In 2008, five ‘serious untoward incidents’ occurred on a small maternity unit in a hospital in the UK. The prevailing view, held by clinical staff, hospital managers and executives, was that these events were unconnected and did not signal systemic failures in care. This view was maintained by the testimony of staff and governance procedures which prevented the incidents from being considered together. Drawing on the inquiry report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation (2015), I examine how the prevailing view was built and dismantled, eventually being replaced with a very different description of events. Overturning this view required affected parents to engage with governing bodies and legal processes, challenge clinical staff, lobby for inquests, mobilise social media and the national press. Tracing how different descriptions of events weaken or gather force as they travel through different forums, processes, and are presented to different audiences, I explore the sociology of knowledge around establishing failures of care.
AB - In 2008, five ‘serious untoward incidents’ occurred on a small maternity unit in a hospital in the UK. The prevailing view, held by clinical staff, hospital managers and executives, was that these events were unconnected and did not signal systemic failures in care. This view was maintained by the testimony of staff and governance procedures which prevented the incidents from being considered together. Drawing on the inquiry report of the Morecambe Bay Investigation (2015), I examine how the prevailing view was built and dismantled, eventually being replaced with a very different description of events. Overturning this view required affected parents to engage with governing bodies and legal processes, challenge clinical staff, lobby for inquests, mobilise social media and the national press. Tracing how different descriptions of events weaken or gather force as they travel through different forums, processes, and are presented to different audiences, I explore the sociology of knowledge around establishing failures of care.
KW - inquiries
KW - description
KW - risk
KW - safety
KW - healthcare
KW - sociology of knowledge
U2 - 10.1177/1468794120975986
DO - 10.1177/1468794120975986
M3 - Journal article
VL - 21
SP - 324
EP - 340
JO - Qualitative Research
JF - Qualitative Research
SN - 1468-7941
IS - 3
ER -