The 15th International Philosophy of Nursing Conference held in association with the International Philosophy of Nursing Society (IPONS) at the West Park Centre, Dundee, Scotland, 25-28 August 2011: Healthcare and the politics of austerity Conference Report Conference Report

摘要

The 15th International Philosophy of Nursing (IPONS) Conference was held on what I consider to be one of the more pleasing venues for this annual conference: the West Park Centre in Dundee, Scotland. Conference attendees were welcomed by the conference host, Dr John Drummond who, with the conference planning committee, proposed the theme of ‘Healthcare and the Politics of Austerity’ to guide the contributions of those attending and participating in the conference. Austerity is a concept that has considerable international relevance at this time in our global history. Most commentators point to the collapse of networked, global economies in 2008 as the reason for why economic austerity is now an essential strategy for national governments to pursue. Only a very few ask us to cast our minds a little further back to the highly questionable practices of financial institutions worldwide – but clearly led by the US financial industry – actions taken by individuals wholly unaccountable to the global citizenry.