The legacy of Hillsborough:Liberating truth, challenging power

In April 1989, ninety-six men, women and children, supporters of Liverpool Football Club, died in a severe crush at an FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield. Hundreds were injured and thousands traumatised. Within hours, the causes and circumstances of the disaster were contested. While a judicial inquiry found serious institutional failures in the policing and management of the capacity crowd, no criminal prosecutions resulted, and the inquests returned ‘accidental death’ verdicts. Immediately, the authorities claimed that drunken, violent fans had caused the fatal crush. Denied legitimacy, survivors’ accounts revealed a different story criticising the parlous state of the stadium, inadequate stewarding, negligent policing, failures in the emergency response and flawed processes of inquiry and investigation. Reflecting on two decades of research and contemporaneous interviews with bereaved families and survivors, this article contrasts the official discourse with those alternative accounts – the ‘view from below’. It demonstrates the influence of powerful institutional interests on the inquiries and investigations. It maps the breakthrough to full documentary disclosure following the appointment of the Hillsborough Independent Panel, its research and key findings published in September 2012. The campaigns by families and survivors were vindicated and the fans, including those who died, were exonerated. The process is discussed as an alternative method for liberating truth, securing acknowledgement and pursuing justice.

Emergency Management in Developed Countries: An Investigation of Hazard Risk, Vulnerability and Government Response in the UK and USA

During the summer of 2007 the United Kingdom experienced some of the worst flooding in its history, with the city of Hull amongst the worst affected. Meanwhile, the city of New Orleans, USA was subject to severe flooding in August 2005 as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The study has found that both the UK and US government disaster management programmes were ill prepared for these flood events. Many parallel issues have been discovered and discussed. The conditions of vulnerability that are evident in developing countries are not widely present in the UK or US but this must not be allowed to lead to complacency and lack of preparation and awareness. The cost in terms of mortality is relatively low compared to similar events in developing countries; however, the economic implications are considerable and must be addressed.

Substituting home care for hospitalization:The role of a quick response service for the elderly

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of a rapid access home-based service as a means for the elderly to avoid admission to an acute-care hospital. The setting for the study included emergency departments in three acute care hospitals and a home care program in a mid-size Canadian city. Multiple sources of information were obtained to evaluate the service. Hospital emergency department records and home care records were reviewed. Patients who participated in the service (n=96) and physicians and nurses (n =119) who had involvement with the service were surveyed appraising the service in terms of relevance, access, quality and coordination. Study results revealed that elderly women with multiple health problems who lived alone were the most frequent users of the service. The majority of the patients admitted to the service presented with problems of a functional nature that were the result of a fall or mobility problems. The results indicated that the service did avert hospital admissions and facilitated a process by which patients could avoid the intermediate step of hospitalization before placed in a higher level of care or returning to previous levels of functioning. Economic analysis indicated that the value of the service stemmed from the benefits to patients and caregivers rather than from cost savings offered to acute care hospitals.