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The objective of this paper was to systematically review published studies to determine if disability limits access to health care and to attempt to identify what body functions, structures and activities and participation, as well as contextual factors (environmental and personal factors), interact with the health condition to limit this access. The AMED, CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline and psychINFO databases were searched for original study articles in English, dating from 1974 to 2008. Review articles and expert opinion were excluded. Each study had two independent reviews by either a general practitioner or specialist in rehabilitation medicine. Each study was critically appraised according to the National Service Framework for Long‐term Conditions (Department of Health, 2005a) methodology and recorded on standardised data extraction sheets. Studies of poor quality were excluded. Sixty studies were included. No randomised controlled trials were identified. Studies broadly fell into the following three main groups: database studies (n=27), quantitative surveys (n=20) and qualitative interviews (n=13). Disabled people are restricted in accessing health care and report less satisfaction with their medical care. Many of the identified studies were from the United States (US) and based on subjective reporting. More objective evidence is needed, especially in the UK, to clarify the true level of access to health care in people with disabilities. The complex, interdependent factors in providing health care to disabled people require complex solutions.

This paper reports on the results of an investigation into how the software development process is initially established within software product start‐ups.

The study employs a grounded theory approach to characterize the experiences of small software organizations in developing processes to support their software development activity. Using the indigenous Irish software product industry as a test‐bed, the authors' examine how software development processes are established in software product start‐ups and the major factors that influence the make up of these processes.

The results show that the previous experience of the person tasked with managing the development work is the prime influencer on the process a company initially uses. Other influencers include the market sector in which the company is operating, the style of management used and the size and scale of the company operations.

The model has particular implications for start‐up software product organisations that wish to successfully manage their product development from an early stage.

In this chapter the authors present a field study investigating the adoption of information communications technology innovation at a UK-based University hospital. The authors have followed the implementation of electronic medicine chart technology (EMEDs) designed to replace “traditional” paper-based systems used by doctors, nurses, and pharmacists teams in the hospital. Having studied the interactions between the “user” and “implementer” groups, the findings of this chapter offer a socio-cognitive model of innovation adoption which accounts for the intra- and inter-team idiosyncrasies that underpin the processes of implementation. Using the concept of interactive framing as the analytical lens, findings of this chapter illustrate that the adoption and diffusion process of innovation is a social process resulting from the interaction of organizational team members. The cycles constituting the adoption and implementation of EMEDs in this research encapsulate the conflicting experience of different groups and their transition from implementation to acceptance. The authors have adopted a socio-cognitive perspective to explain the asymmetrical experience of different groups in a complex, high reliable organization.

The unloved Act of Union between the British and Irish Parliaments in 1800 which constituted the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland had within it the seeds of its own unhappiness, if not its destruction. There was an element of schizophrenia about it, for while Ireland was integrated with Britain, specific Irish functions were retained, such as the Viceregal Court, local patronage, and the local government of the Protestant Ascendancy. Indeed the deal was done with one section of the community only; it did not solve the question whether Ireland was an annexed colony of a full part of Britain.