National publications/papers on the history of community hospitals

Archie Cochrane wrote in his seminal publication: Effectiveness and Efficiency - Random Reflections on Health Services: The cottage hospital is the direct ancestor of the community hospital and I was brought up in a town, Galashiels, which had such a cottage hospital. I have clearcut memories of that hospital, which fully support the two main points at present being in favour of community hospitalsThere is no doubt that a community hospital would be easier to visit than a district general hospital. The other is local pride. Every community which is a sociological entity needs foci of interest and the cottage hospital certainly was one such focus which made it the recipient of voluntary help and financial aid in a way that a district general hospital, serving largely ill-defined areas can never hope to emulate. The NHS would be unwise to neglect this. The publication is available to download from the Nuffield Trust here 

Gillian Wilce wrote an account of Lambeth Community Care Centre - an urban community hospital.  As a journalist, Wilce offered a number of insights that are as relevant today as they were in the 1980s.The most important distinguishing feature of the Centre is that it is equipped, not just with a new building and set of services, but with a coherent philosophy, a conviction that the patient should be enabled to share in his/her own health care as part of a multidisciplinary team.People who work in or with the Centre ....see it is a positive amplification of the health service, adding in a level of general medical care with intensive nursing which is particularly appropriate for some conditions, and which saves only on the unnecessary use of acute medical facilities. It offers, moreover, a genuine invitation to patients to become full partners in their own health care. It is also committed to operating democratically and becoming a genuine part of the community in which it is set.