New forms of expertise and their implications for the system of professions in healthcare

The case of the patient safety specialist role in the English NHS

Bibliographic Data

ID4596953
AuthorsGraham P Martins (0000-0003-1979-7577, University of Cambridge), R Pralat (0000-0002-4968-9166, University of Cambridge), J Waring (0000-0003-1459-5896, Loughborough University), M Farhad Peerally (0000-0003-3004-375X, University of Leicester)
Year2025
Volume385
Pages118562
Publication date2025-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118562
PMID41005118
OpenAlexW4414036599
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited31

Contemporary societal shifts are disrupting established professional divisions of labour in healthcare. Some have argued that professionalism itself is being transformed, with professions characterised less by claims to exclusive jurisdiction and more by connectivity and complementarity. This article puts these arguments to the test in a domain traditionally characterised as one of professional conflict: patient safety. Informed by the sociology of expertise, we consider the case of a new role-the patient safety specialist-constructed by some as a profession in the making. Drawing on three qualitative datasets comprising interview and focus group contributions from 71 participants, we find that patient safety specialists struggled to establish the legitimacy of their expertise in organisational environments that were often hostile. By forging alignments with the interests of clinical professionals, however, some advanced their roles in ways that served mutual interests, in line with recent theses on the changing nature of professionalism and the need for expertise that connects increasingly interdependent jurisdictions. The extent to which this advancement offered a solid and durable foundation for a claim to professional status, however, seemed more questionable

Family medicine · Health care · Healthcare system · Patient safety · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Healthcare cost, quality, practices · Healthcare Quality and Management · Law · Medical Malpractice and Liability Issues · Medicine · Nursing

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