Market Mechanisms and the Management of Health Care: The UK Model and Experience
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 1 December 1994
Abstract
Examines recent reforms of the UK′s National Health Service (NHS), and explores the pressures for change in the pursuit of an efficient NHS and the conflicts which this causes in an organization which was based on the aim of equity. In particular, addresses the “false revolutions” of managerial change introduced after the Griffiths Report (1983) and the accounting changes introduced in the wake of the Griffiths proposals. Evidence shows that these intended revolutions were limited in impact. The result of these failures has been the introduction of the “real revolution” – the internal market in health care. This is a radical change in both the NHS management arrangements and in service delivery, with the division of the NHS into purchasers (health authorities and GP fund holders) and providers (hospital and community services, whether provided by private, voluntary or state‐owned facilities).
Keywords
Citation
Lapsley, I. (1994), "Market Mechanisms and the Management of Health Care: The UK Model and Experience", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 7 No. 6, pp. 15-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513559410070551
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1994, MCB UP Limited