Hospital social work in Sweden and the UK: Access to chances of physical health and well-being

Abstract

In Swedish and UK practice, interest is developing in social work's contribution to tackling service users' unequal chances and experience of physical health. This is through alleviating disadvantaged social conditions such as relative poverty which service users face and which are associated with health inequalities. Ready access to social work services is an essential preliminary if service users are to gain the material and social resources services can provide, to alleviate their adverse social circumstances and thereby improve their health prospects. However, despite hospital social work's well-established position, its significance as an access point for services has tended to be marginalized. Drawing on a comparative account of Swedish and UK practice featuring two action research projects, we explore how hospital social work is a key point of access to services for service users experiencing profound disadvantage. We analyse major barriers to such access, notably the underfunded nature of hospital social work, discriminatory procedures, and unequal professional service user power relations. Nevertheless, the action research projects show how these barriers may be breached to some degree, enabling service users as patients and carers to access resources which contribute to more equal chances of health and well-being in ill-health.