Working in the Health Services — Troubles, Issues, Migration and Ethnicity

Diversity, ethnicity, migration and work are of contemporary economic, social, political and global importance; the terms overlap, intersect and together characterize many of the challenges and opportunities faced by contemporary societies. Issues of migration and ethnicity are of profound importance in particular sectors, including the focus of this book, the health care sector. The demand for health care work operates in a global labour market and at all levels is undertaken by a high proportion of people from multiple ethnicities, many of whom are immigrants or whose families have their origins in other countries. Moreover the health care sector embraces some of the most highly qualified and skilled professional workers as well as those engaged in low-paid, low-skilled work such as cleaning and catering, and the many occupations in between. Health care work is inherently complex; it is demanding, it may be of life and death significance and can also be highly gratifying with potentially high levels of intrinsic rewards. We aim to understand the contemporary working experiences of both migrant and black and minority workers in the health sector and the strategies that health care organizations are adopting to provide a fair working environment and to ameliorate unfair employment practices.