Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T13:22:07.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Health and Health Care Among Travellers*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Jan Pahl  and
Michael Vaile
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Travellers, or Gypsies, constitute a minority group with its own culture and traditions for whom access to health care can pose problems. A study of Traveller women and children showed that the sites where they lived were often lacking in facilities and provided a poor environment in terms of cleanliness and safety. Perinatal mortality was above average, and was especially high on sites with inadequate facilities and among the more mobile families. Immunisation and preventive care of children were both inadequate, especially among the more mobile. There continues to be a need for more, and better, permanent sites for Travellers. Other responses include allowing Traveller families to carry their own medical records, providing mobile clinics for Gypsy sites, and appointing specialist health visitors to ensure that Travellers get the health care to which they are entitled.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , April 1988 , pp. 195 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Acton, T. (1974), Gypsy Politics and Social Change, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.Google Scholar
Allen, I. (1981), Family Planning, Sterilisation and Abortion Services, Policy Studies Institute, London.Google Scholar
Brown, G. and Harris, T. (1978), Social Origins of Depression, Tavistock Publications, London.Google ScholarPubMed
Central Statistical Office (1982), Social Trends 13, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Department of the Environment (1984), Count of Gypsy Caravans, Regional Totals, 11 07 1984, London.Google Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1984). Immunisation Statistics, DHSS Statistics and Research Branch.Google Scholar
Dowling, S. (1983). Health for a Change. Child Poverty Action Group, London.Google Scholar
Galbraith, N.S. et al. (1980), ‘Changing patterns of communicable disease in England and Wales’, British Medical Journal, 281, 489–492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halpern, S. (1985). ‘Marplan poll’, Health and Social Service Journal, 6.6.85, 701–704.Google Scholar
Kent County Council (1985), Kent Gypsy Survey, County Hall, Maidstone.Google Scholar
Lawrie, B. (1983). ‘Travelling families in East London—adapting health visiting methods to a minority group’. Health Visitor, 56, 26–28.Google ScholarPubMed
Leicester Health Education Unit (1980). Health Care of Gypsies and Other Travellers, Leicestershire Area Health Authority.Google Scholar
MacGregor, J.D. et al. (1981). ‘Epidemic measles in Shetland during 1977 and 1978’. British Medical Journal, 282. 434–436.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, J. (1984). What is to be Done About Illness and Health?, Penguin, Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Mittler, P. (1979). People not Patients. Methuen, London.Google ScholarPubMed
Newson, J. and Newson, E. (1963), Patterns of Infant Care in an Urban Community, Penguin, Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1982), Infant and Perinatal Mortality 1980, DH3, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1985), Fertility Trends in England and Wales during 1984, FM 1 85/3, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Okely, J. (1975), ‘Gypsy women: models in conflict’ in Ardener, S. (ed.). Perceiving Women, Dent, London.Google Scholar
Okely, J. (1983). The Traveller Gypsies, Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pahl, J. and Vaile, M. (1986). Health and Health Care Among Travellers, Health Services Research Unit, University of Kent.Google Scholar
Peck, B. (1983). ‘Gypsies—a Sheffield experience’, Health Visitor. October. 56, 365.Google ScholarPubMed
Review of the Registrar General (1982). Birth Statistics 1980. FM 1. No. 7, HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Sampson, K. and Stockford, D. (1979). Gypsy Children and their Health Needs, London.Google Scholar
Save the Children Fund (1981). Caring for Young Children, tape/slide programme.Google Scholar
Save the Children Fund (1983). The Health of Traveller Mothers and Children in East Anglia. Save the Children Fund. London.Google Scholar
Sibley, D. (1981), Outsiders in Urban Societies, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Silver, V. (1982), Perinatal Health and the Traveller Community, M.Sc. Thesis. University of London.Google Scholar
Streetley, A. (1987). ‘Health care for travellers: one year's experience’, British Medical Journal, 21 02, 492–494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, J.E., Walker, A.M. and Dodd, P. (1982), Adult Dental Health Vol. 2. United Kingdom. HMSO, London.Google Scholar
Townsend, P. and Davidson, N. (1982), Inequalities in Health: The Black Report, Penguin, Harmondsworth.Google Scholar
Viney, T. and Dermody, G. (1987). ‘Beyond the pale’, Poverty. Winter 1986/7, 65, 9–11.Google Scholar
Warren, M.D. (1974), The Canterbury Survey of Handicapped People. Health Services Research Unit, University of Kent.Google Scholar
Wiltshire Gypsy Council (1978), A Special Report on the Health Problems of Romany and Irish Travellers in the South West. Wiltshire Gypsy Council, Wootton Bassett, Swindon.Google Scholar