Networks in local health systems: towards new spaces?

Sebastien Fleuret (1, 2)

1 ESO - Espaces Géographiques et Sociétés
2 ESO - Espaces et Sociétés

New organizations of care and social service delivery (especially the development of coordination and networks) are leading to the definition new spaces. This article is based on examples of restructuring of health care systems in France and in Quebec. Both are moving towards more integration of delivery of care. In Quebec, 95 territories were created with a leading structure: the center for health and social services. This structure is responsible for bringing all the providers of services into a network and for giving to the population the guarantee of continuity and quality of care. It results in a new geography of health at the local scale. In France, continuity and quality of care are also used as arguments to justify changes in the organization of the system. The role of space in health care policy can be conceived as taking two forms. First and most obviously, there is a simple spatial division (...) secondly, measures such as community care, neighbourhood nursing and locality planning are embodying rather more subjective assumptions associated with function, role and meaning. (Moon 1990, p. 158)

Mots clés: Health care; Networks; Restructuring; Organizations

Domaines: Géographie

Sebastien Fleuret. Networks in local health systems: towards new spaces?. GeoJournal, 2009, online first, 13 p. ⟨10.1007/s10708-009-9285-6⟩. ⟨halshs-00398035⟩