Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:17:13.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Health Impact of Gypsy Sites Policy in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

Patrice Van Cleemput
Patrice Van Cleemput*
Affiliation:
School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield E-mail p.vancleemput@sheffield.ac.uk and patriceable@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper illustrates the social and health consequences of the politics and policies of Gypsy sites in the UK. Recent research concerning health status shows that Gypsies and Travellers have significantly poorer health than other UK resident English speaking ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged white UK residents. Interview data from the qualitative study of Gypsy and Traveller experience of health and access to health care illustrate the impact of inequality and the association of accommodation factors with health outcomes health. This paper explores how policy on Gypsy sites impacts on the availability of suitable accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers and examines the practical implications for their status in society and the wider health consequences.

Type
Themed Section Care or Control? Gypsies, Travellers and the State
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 103 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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

Acheson, D. 1998, Inequalities in Health: Report of an Independent Inquiry, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Lord, Avebury 2006, Hansard HL Deb (2005–06) 686 col. 5113, 3 November.Google Scholar
BBC 2007, ‘Boys guilty of killing Gypsy’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/3246518.stm (4 August 2007).Google Scholar
Bancroft, A. 2000,‘“No Interest in land”: legal and spatial enclosure of Gypsy-Travellers in Britain’, Space and Polity, 4, 1, 46–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartley, M. 2004, Health Inequality: An Introduction to Theories, Concepts and Methods, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Black, D., Morris, J., Smith, C. and Townsend, P. 1982, Inequalities in Health: The Black Report, Harmondsworth: Pelican.Google Scholar
Bonnefoy, X. et al. 2004, ‘Review of evidence on housing and health’, Paper presented at 4th Ministerial conference on Environment and Health, Budapest June 2004 www.euro.who.int/document/HOH/ebackdoc01.pdf (4 August 2007).Google Scholar
Brunner, E. 1997, ‘Socioeconomic determinants of health: stress and the biology of inequality’, British Medical Journal, 314, 1472–1477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunner, E. and Marmot, M. 1999, ‘Social organization, stress and health’, in Marmot, M. and Wilkinson, R. G. (eds), ‘Social Determinants of Health’, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Children's Participation Project (Wessex) 2007, My Dream Site: Research with Traveller Children around the Issue of Sites, Bath: The Children's Society.Google Scholar
Commission for Racial Equality 2006, Common Ground: Equality, Good Race Relations and Sites for Gypsies and Irish Travellers, London: CRE.Google Scholar
Department of Health 1999, Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department of Health 2003, ‘Tackling health inequalities: a programme for action’, www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4008268 (4 August 2007).Google Scholar
Department of Health 2001, ‘The national health inequalities targets’, http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4010168 (4 August 2007).Google Scholar
Doyal, L., Cameron, A., Cemlyn, S., Nandy, S. and Shaw, M. 2002, The Health of Travellers in the South West Region, Bristol: South West Public Health Observatory.Google Scholar
Duncan, T. 1996, Neighbours’ Views of Official Sites for Travelling People: A Survey Based on Three Case Studies in Scotland, Glasgow: The Planning Exchange.Google Scholar
Durward, L. 1990, Traveller Mothers and Babies: Who Cares for Their Health?, London: Maternity Alliance.Google Scholar
European Partners FOR equity in Health 2006, Position Paper on ‘Tackling health inequalities’, http://www.health-inequalities.org/?uid=bff09468c8e4cd11b6caad42f0531e5a&id=Seite872Google Scholar
Feder, G. S. 1994, ‘Traveller Gypsies and primary health care in East London’, unpublished MD Thesis, St Thomas's Hospital Medical School, University of London.Google Scholar
Giddens, A. 1991, Modernity and Self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Ginnety, P. 1993, The Health of Travellers-based on a Research Study with Travellers in Belfast, Belfast: Eastern Health and Social Services Board.Google Scholar
Gordon, M., Gorman, D., Hashem, S. and Stewart, D. 1991, ‘The health of Travellers’ children in Northern Ireland’, Public Health, 105, 5, 387–391.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Government of South Australia 2007, Welcome to the Social Inclusion website http://www.socialinclusion.sa.gov.au/index.php,4/Aug/07Google Scholar
Britain, Great 2000, The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Halpern, D. 2005, Social Capital, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hawes, D. 1997, Gypsies, Travellers and the Health Service, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Henninck, M. et al. 2003, Primary Health Care Needs of Travelling People in Wessex, Unpublished Work.Google Scholar
Hiscock, R., Kearns, A., Macintyre, S. and Ellaway, A. 2001, ‘Ontological security and psycho-social benefits from the home: qualitative evidence on issues of tenure’, Housing, Theory and Society, 18, 50–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. 2001, ‘Identity and structure: rethinking ethnic inequalities in health’, in Graham, H (ed.), Understanding Health Inequalities, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Karlsen, S. and Nazroo, J. 2002, ‘Relation between racial discrimination, social class, and health among ethnic minority groups’, American Journal of Public Health, 92, 4, 624–631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kawachi, I., Subramanian, S. and Almeida-Filho, N. 2002, ‘A glossary for health inequalities’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 56, 647–652.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sherrifs, Land 2006, www.landsheriffs.co.uk/index.html, (17 May 2006).Google Scholar
Lewis, G. and Drife, J. 2001, Why Mothers Die 1997–1999: The Confidential Enquiries into Maternal Deaths in the United Kingdom, London: RCOG.Google Scholar
Marmot, M., Ryff, C., Bumpass, L., Shipley, M. and Marks, N. 1997, ‘Social inequalities in health: next questions and converging evidence’, Social Science and Medicine, 44, 6, 901–910.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmot, M. 2002, ‘The influence of income on health: views of an epidemiologist’, Health affairs, 21, 2, 31–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marsh, A., Gordon, D., Pantazis, C. and Heslop, P. 1999, Home Sweet Home? The Impact of Poor Housing on Health, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Morris, R. and Clements, L. 2002, At What Cost?: The Economics of Gypsy and Traveller Encampments, Bristol: The Policy Press.Google Scholar
Nazroo, J. 2005 ‘Understanding ethnic inequalities in health: the importance of theory’, Paper presented at the National Conference of the Transcultural Research group in Health and Social Care, Sheffield, September 2005.Google Scholar
Niner, P. 2002, The Provision and Condition of Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Sites in England, London: ODPM.Google Scholar
Niner, P. 2003, Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Sites in England, London: OPDM.Google Scholar
Pahl, J. and Vaile, M. 1986, ‘Health and health care among Travellers’, Journal of Social Policy, 17, 195–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parry, G., Van Cleemput, P., Peters, J., Walters, S., Cooper, C. and Thomas, K. 2007, ‘The health status of Gypsies and Travellers in England: a population based study’, Journal of.Epidemiology and l Community Health, 61, 3, 98–204.Google Scholar
Shaw, M. 2004, ‘Housing and public health’, Annual Review of Public health, 25, 397–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stewart, J. 2005, ‘A review of UK housing policy: ideology and public health’, Public Health, 119, 525–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taske, N., Taylor, L., Mulvihill, C. and Doyle, N. 2007 ‘Housing and public health: a review of reviews of interventions for improving health – evidence briefing’, NICE, www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=526671 (4 August 2007).Google Scholar
Taylor, S., Repetti, R. and Seeman, T. 1997, ‘Health psychology: what is an unhealthy environment and how does it get under the skin?’, Annual Reviews Psychology, 48, 411–447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomson, H., Petticrew, M. and Morrison, D. 2001, ‘Health effects of housing improvement: systematic review of intervention studies’, British Medical Journal, 323, 187–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Valentine, G. and McDonald, I. 2004, Understanding Prejudice: Attitudes Towards Minorities, London: Stonewall.Google Scholar
Van Cleemput, P., Parry, G., Thomas, K., Peters, J. and Cooper, C. 2007, ‘The health related beliefs and experience of Gypsies and Travellers: a qualitative study’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 61, 3, 205–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warrington, C. 2006, Children's Voices: Changing Futures, Ipswich: Ormiston Children and Families Trust.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. 2005, The Impact of Inequality: How to make Sick Societies Healthier, New York: The New Press.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. 1996, Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
WHO Regional Office of Europe 2007, ‘Preliminary overview of LARES findings: analysis and review of European housing and health status. http://www.euro.who.int/Housing/activities/20020711_1, 4/Aug/07Google Scholar