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The purpose of this paper is to investigate cost effectiveness, diagnostic rates, surgical percentage and appropriateness for orthopaedic referrals and number of patients able to be seen in orthopaedic triage from GP orthopaedic referrals.

The study involved triaging paper referrals for orthopaedic outpatients to an interface service, orthotics or continue normal route. Data were collected on outcome of the interface appointment and outcomes for those patients referred to orthopaedics from the appointment.

The study demonstrated a 27.3 per cent cost saving from the normal orthopaedic route with 86.1 per cent of patients able to be managed by an extended scope physiotherapist (ESP) without requiring orthopaedic assessment. Appropriateness of onward orthopaedic referrals was 80.5 per cent with surgery conversion rate of 75 per cent.

Although triage and ESP positions have been studied before, this is the first known study to look at cost effectiveness across the patient pathway despite this being a large reason for the creation of these positions. Further larger studies are required to build upon this base in terms of demonstrating the cost effectiveness of the value of these positions.

Is medically assisted fertilization (with the use of in vitro technology) about “reproductive rights” or about white women's privileges? What is “choice” for white and rich women seems to become a further commodification of the body for women of color and economically disadvantaged women.

Several feminists define reproductive rights by demanding social justice and a type of support for the mothers that does not include expensive technologies, which have a problematic outcome, that of generating a divide between women in the north and women in the south of the world. Some authors also talk about a “division of labor” in reproduction.

The first part of my chapter offers an outline of the historical feminist debate over gender and technology, looking at different positions regarding biotechnologies, and reproductive technologies in a specific way. The second part presents an investigation around the (often racialized) international market of eggs and surrogate mothers in the United States, India and Eastern Europe.

The third part consists of an analysis of few recent studies about the health of women who undergo ovarian hyper-stimulation in order to give eggs as “donation” (under payment); women who offer themselves as surrogate mothers and the children who have been conceived with in vitro fertilization, specifically with heterologue forms (egg donation or surrogate motherhood).

The problem of workers at risk should be reframed to reflect the impact of social stratification, power relations and divergent interests in occupational health practices. The past two decades have seen rapid developments in technology for detecting genetic traits and abnormalities in individuals that may indicate damage from chemical exposure. Occupational physicians, industrial managers and biomedical scientists increasingly favour this technology. However these methods have only selective appeal and are quite controversial. Their accuracy in identifying high‐risk workers is disputed as well as their value and consequences. Social factors that shape the way workers at risk have been defined are discussed. These social processes help to explain the way issues of risk are framed and industrial practices are conducted. They also explain patterns of support and opposition to genetic technology.