In 2005, Dixon Woods et al. published an exhaustive critical review and synthesis of the vast body of literature on access to health services (6). The result was a new theoretical framework that attempts to categorise the issues associated with accessing services. The framework has been used in research since 2006, mainly with regard to access to health services. A critical analysis of its use beyond health services is provided by Mackenzie et al in 2012 (7) who assert that, with the existence of mounting evidence of rising inequality as a result of “austerity” measures being pursued by the current UK government,
it becomes urgent to understand the process of access to limited public services and to determine how these are influenced at macro, meso and micro levels by changing discourses of deservedness and fairness and by stringent reductions in the public purse. We contest that candidacy offers one way of developing that understanding and should now be put to the test.
This study uses the Candidacy framework as suggested by McKenzie et al in order to increase understanding of the complexities associated with accessing services for people from ethnic minority groups on the south side of Glasgow. An appraisal of its use in this context is provided in the conclusion to this report.
(6) Vulnerable Groups and access to health care: a critical interpretive review, Dixon-woods et al, 2005 7 Is “Candidacy” a Useful Concept for Understanding Journeys through Public Services?, M Mackenzie et al, 2012
(7) Is “Candidacy” a Useful Concept for Understanding Journeys through Public Services?, M Mackenzie et al, 201