The informalisation of professional–patient interactions and the consequences for regulation in the United Kingdom

Critical reflections on professional regulation have rarely taken a longterm perspective. In this chapter we draw on insights from process sociology, following in a tradition shaped chiefly by the works of Norbert Elias, in order to make sense of changes in professional–patient interactions and the implications of these changes for societal expectations of health care and the regulation of doctors. We focus this discussion on the regulatory apparatus of medical practice within England, where a shift towards increasing state involvement in regulation has taken place. This widening of ‘who regulates’ has been accompanied by a broadened understanding of quality...