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Stories on the NHS

• Features

  • Still the envy of the world?

    The ‘primary care tsar’ paints a rosy picture of the service in his progess report. But it’s not quite that simple, argues GP Ron Singer

  • Should the voluntary sector be integral to public services?

    In a speech last month, Alan Milburn called for the voluntary sector to ‘become part of the mainstream of public service delivery’.
    But is he right? healthmatters asked key commentators for their views

  • On whose say so?

    The latest round of structural changes to the NHS make new ideas about how to involve people in the shape and running of their local health services more vital than ever, explains Alyson Morley

  • Let the managers manage?

    Could the NHS do with less ‘political interference’? Steve Dewar suggests it becomes a devolved agency, but Roger Seifert disagrees

  • Community, not consumerism

    How can local communities change how services are provided? Community-oriented primary care is one way, explain Steve Iliffe, Kalpa Kharicha and Penny Lenihan

  • Changes which go to the heart of the NHS

    The government must engage in honest and open debate about its long term plans for the health service, says Mark Thomas

  • Payment by results

    Despite the row over foundation trusts, it is New Labour’s plan to change NHS financial flows that will trigger radical change in the NHS, explain Ruth McDonald and Stephen Harrison

  • Devolution stirs policy evolution

    A devolved Wales is developing its own distinctive approach to health, rather than simply accepting Westminster’s policy for running a health service, says Steve Davies

  • How will greater ‘consumer choice’ impact on the NHS?

    ‘Choice and consumer power as the route to social justice not social division’, says the prime minister of the government’s new approach to public services. But how likely is this? healthmatters went in search of reactions

  • Most markets are a mess

    In much of the world a simple public/private division neither applies nor matters. The issue is how to get any health care at all. Mike Rowson looks at what governments can do

  • Rocking the foundations

    The government’s proposals for foundation trusts will promote inequality and fragmentation in the NHS, and are a step on the road to a full-blown health care market, warns Dave Prentis

  • Time to give a little

    The NHS can’t build healthy communities – but it could stimulate mutual caring and giving through timebanks. Paul Hodgkin explains

  • What’s IT to be?

    The government has committed a huge amount of money to its new NHS information and communication technologies plan. Jamie Bend wonders whether it will fare any better than previous ill-fated NHS IT projects

  • The harmful pressure of market forces

    Gordon Brown’s recent speech on the limits of market mechanisms did not go quite far enough, argues Margaret Cook

  • Diversity, inequality, inefficiency

    New ‘patient choice’ proposals suggest that the rush to create a market in the NHS is gathering pace, warns Steve Iliffe

  • It’s behind you

    Foundation hospitals are being presented as a return to Labour’s mutual and co-operative roots. But this is just a political pantomime, says Rosamund Stock

  • How the NHS must think sustainably

    The NHS could become a major force for better health in Britain – not through providing clinical care but by exploiting its ‘leverage capital’ to work for sustainable development. Dominic Harrison explains

  • Uh...haven’t we been here before?

    As Labour’s new wave of NHS reforms take shape, with their emphasis on market mechanisms and increasing private sector provision, the continuities with the policies of the Thatcher era are becoming all too clear, argues Richard Lewis

  • Time for a closer look

    With NHS reform in full swing, it is essential that the voice of public opinion gets heard, says Paul Evans

  • How the NHS harms health

    NHS acceptance of low pay among contracted-out staff is unjust and worsens health inequality, reports Catherine Howarth

  • Patients are a virtue

    Patient participation can help health services to develop – but doctors must learn to participate too, says Jill Murie

  • And did they ‘save the NHS’?

    Overseas surgical teams, foundation hospitals, PFI, league tables, private sector management, and billions of pounds...Labour’s NHS reforms are dizzying. But will they kill or cure the NHS?

  • Let 1,000 pilots bloom

    Looming GP shortages mean we will have to think differently about the primary care professionals we need, say Rebecca Rosen and Diane Gray

  • Losers in the transfer market

    John Lister explains why the GMB is opposed to the government’s retention of employment policy for NHS staff affected by PFI deals

  • An alternative NHS reform

    The government claims to be ‘reforming’ the NHS, but has only succeeded in raising public anxiety and alienating health professionals. An alternative strategy is needed, says Steve Iliffe

  • Healing by primary intention

    While the UK argued about a primary care-led NHS, Cuba got on with it – and it worked, reports John Waller

  • A time for justice

    Negligence cases have severely damaged trust in the NHS. Josephine Ocloo argues for a new system of accountability

  • After the truth, reconciliation

    The Bristol inquiry has reported, but can the NHS learn the lessons? Maria Shortis, whose daughter died after cardiac surgery, believes there is a way forward

  • Getting a cut of the action

    Giving private companies a bigger role seems central to Labour’s current NHS reforms – but as Richard Lewis explains, private health care seems to be less cost-effective and may even cost more

  • A licence to bill?

    A private health care company guilty of fraudulent billing in the US is now busy in the UK. Geof Rayner asks whether it can be trusted

  • Shifting and unbalanced

    Labour’s current NHS reforms are throwing the whole public health infrastructure into the air, says Tony Jewell

  • Right a bit more

    Steve Harrison assesses Labour’s proclaimed ‘third way’ in health policy and finds that the strategy consists of little more than old – and right wing – policies dressed up in new clothing

  • Let us get on with it

    Increased surveillance and regulation has marked Labour’s approach to improving NHS standards – but now the regulators must be allowed to do the job, says Linda Patterson

  • A tale of two incomes

    Proposals that new consultants work exclusively in the NHS for a fixed period are long overdue, says Peter Fisher

  • Now inject some accountability

    In October ministers signed a ‘concordat’ between the NHS and the private sector. But if this marriage is to last there are some relationship issues to resolve first, warns Martin Rathfelder

  • Why we’d rather go public

    Though it admits competitive tendering has failed, New Labour still seems to believe in private health care, says Steven Weeks

  • All those in favour of Hutton?

    The Hutton commission’s recent proposals on democratising the NHS are a good start, says Martin Rathfelder

  • How national a health service?

    That a ‘control freak’ government should adopt a centralising approach to the NHS comes as no surprise – but Labour policy is not quite so simple, argues Richard Lewis

  • Unsteadily into the future

    Will the fast-changing nature of primary care work to the advantage of older people, or against them? Steve Iliffe assesses an uncertain future

  • NHS here, how can I help you?

    Two new services will transform the NHS – and New Labour’s re-election chances – for good or ill, argues James Munro

  • A new kind of primary care

    Labour’s reforms of primary care move the NHS away not only from the entrepreneurialism of fundholding, but from 50 years of individualism in general practice, argues Richard Lewis

  • PFI – you’ll Pay For It later

    Far from solving the cash shortage in the NHS, the Private Finance Initiative makes matters worse by draining the budgets that pay for services and staff, explains Allyson Pollock

  • US health policy is pie in the sky

    After years of proclaiming that the market was the answer to all their – and our – health care dilemmas, Americans are now beginning to understand that competition may create more problems than it solves. Geof Rayner investigates

  • All talk, no action?

    David Wainwright warns that without some template for how to go about commissioning, primary care groups risk substituting developing the commissioning mechanism for the activity itself

  • The future has arrived

    Advances in genetic science have not been accompanied by parallel advances in planning the new patterns of health care delivery genetics will demand. Joanne Lenaghan says we must start immediately

  • It’s no longer a case of ‘speak out at your peril’

    As the Public Interest Disclosure Act comes into force, Guy Dehn examines the implications for NHS whistleblowers

  • Plenty of interests in PCGs

    Steve Iliffe analyses the complex politics which will dominate the early life of primary care groups

  • Why are some dentists a pain?

    Public concern over NHS dentistry has risen in recent years. Maria Dickinson, Michael Calnan and Graham Manley look at the causes of dissatisfaction

  • Who wants a say in the NHS?

    It’s time to end paternalism in the health service and take practical steps towards involving
    individuals and citizens in their health care, say Marion Barnes and Martin Evans

  • It’s time the NHS sold out

    Although things have improved, the NHS still invests heavily in the arms trade. Ray Hemmings reports on the latest figures

  • PFI: more cuts in the NHS

    Using private finance to build new hospitals will lead to fewer beds, cuts in staff numbers and an emphasis on discharging patients ‘quicker but sicker’. Jean Shaoul explains why Labour should abandon the PFI

  • Who’d be a GP now?

    As the government announces plans to recruit 7,000 more doctors, Sylvia Myerson talks to GPs in training about their changing attitudes to the job

  • Blair and Bevan: more than 50 years apart

    Labour’s white paper on the NHS emphasises collaboration over competition, but it is still closer to Thatcher than Bevan, says Charles Webster

  • Do we still need CHCs?

    As plans to devolve health care commissioning to Primary Care Groups gather pace, is there still a role for Community Health Councils? Toby Harris explains why we still need the watchdogs of the NHS

  • Thou shalt not disparage another doctor

    Recent events in Bristol have brought into question the ability of the medical profession to regulate itself for the public good. In particular, the General Medical Council has found difficulty in putting the interests of patients above those of professionals, argues Jean Robinson

  • Strain your ears: you might hear something

    It’s funny how people with perfectly good hearing can’t seem to listen to the ideas of deaf people, says Mark Heaton

  • Things can only get better?

    Labour are still insisting they can cut waiting lists — but how likely is it? The Radical Statistics Health Group has the facts

  • Those magical mystery zones

    Health Action Zones are being hyped as a key element of the government’s plan to remove competition and promote collaboration in the NHS. But what are they? David Glasman reports

  • Into the arms of the NHS

    Many people would be shocked if NHS health authorities, trusts and medical charities invested money in arms-exporting companies. But they do — and disinvestment is long overdue, says Ray Hemmings

  • We know what we are talking about

    Too often children are seen and not heard, but here young reporters from the Children’s Express news agency in Newcastle give their impressions of a recent conference on inequalities in young people’s health

  • But the doctors aren’t your mum

    If users are to become involved in planning health services, then why shouldn’t children have their say too? Eva Elliott and Ali Watson seek the views of younger users

  • A bad case of chronic prejudice

    Despite previous attempts to address the problem, racism persists in British medicine, reports Gina Agarwal

  • More than a research problem

    Communities from the Horn of Africa have had enough of being researched – they want practical support. Elfneh Bariso reports

  • It’s about saying the right thing

    Is it safe for staff to say what they think about working in the NHS? Peter Bruggen has listened to many tales of despair, and offers some straightforward advice

  • Ministers matter to the NHS

    Charles Webster wonders whether Frank Dobson will prove to be one of the better health ministers

  • Never mind the quality

    Are contracts a useful approach to improving the quality of care? Juan Baeza and Michael Calnan have their doubts

  • Learning a new way of thinking

    Does anyone know what ‘the primary care-led NHS’ really means? David Martin offers an explanation, and searches out a second opinion

  • General practice enters the market

    The White Papers signal the end of the general practice monopoly and begin a process of deregulating primary care, argues Steve Iliffe

  • 2007: look back in anger

    In ten years the Private Finance Initiative will be seen as lethal medicine for the NHS, warns Dexter Whitfield

  • Risky treatment for the NHS

    In a review essay of a Chris Ham’s recent Demos publication, Geof Rayner cautions against uncritically importing US policy ideas into the NHS

  • Nurses up, managers down?

    What’s happening to nurses? The Radical Statistics Health Group have the latest figures

  • Neglected: the health of the older nation

    The Health of the Nation strategy for England sets few targets for older people — and the result may be to seriously disadvantage their access to health care. Bill Bytheway explains why

  • Bureaucrats at your bedside

    Like other American imports, managed care is being sold to Europe as the answer to problems we didn’t know we had. Geof Rayner examines the hard evidence behind the hype

  • Clean up or cough up

    As the nation’s use of health services keeps on rising, Richard Lawson asks why we don’t take prevention more seriously—and proposes a radical alternative to the Health of the Nation

  • Better primary care led than primary care dead

    The greatest crisis in general practice in over 30 years is being met with government indifference, says Brian Gibbons

  • Is crime a health issue?

    The relationships between crime and health are complex and often hidden. While health services can’t tackle crime head on, neither can they ignore it, says Chris Ford

  • Casualties of limited evidence?

    Recent proposals that many A&E departments should close ignore the realities of inner-city health care, says Nikki Joule

  • When things go wrong...

    The old NHS complaints system was notorious for being confusing and unsatisfactory for all concerned. Lesley Wratten explains the thinking behind the new system, which began on 1 April

  • Working for nobody

    With the NHS reforms now five years old, James Munro measures the promises of the reformers against the reality of the results. Are they really ‘working for patients’?

  • Really working for patients

    GP commissioning goes beyond fundholding in its ability to secure good health care for all and address public health issues, argues Ron Singer

  • New signs of accountable healthcare

    Despite the rhetoric of quality, it’s getting harder to hold health care providers to account, warns Gillian Dalley

  • Is this a good investment?

    The government’s private finance initiative distorts NHS priorities, weakens democratic control and risks destroying the public sector ethos of the health service, warns Dexter Whitfield

  • Radical surgery

    In failing to create an open market in healthcare, the NHS reforms have been a frustration to the Right - but the think tanks still have ideas for radical reform. Wendy Moore investigates

  • The people’s verdict

    ‘Consultation’ just isn’t good enough now that controversial rationing decisions have become a central feature of the NHS. Joanne Lenaghan proposes a better way to involve citizens in public service decisions

  • The NHS just keeps getting better and better - trust us!

    Or does it? The NHS Support Federation has been keeping its own record of facts and figures about the NHS and community care - just in case government ministers really want to know how it’s going

  • What’s left of Labour’s NHS?

    Is Labour’s health policy the work of wild-eyed radicals or just another example of New Labour Blurrism? And can Labour win over the activists as well as the administrators? Wendy Moore finds out

  • Today’s docs are buying it all

    Even if you don’t like fundholding, there’s a lot to be said for total purchasing, says Uli Freudenstein

  • Radicalism and compromise

    The NHS may be the ‘jewel in the crown’ of Labour’s post-war achievements, but the history of its creation is marked by expedience and compromise. And we are still living with the results of compromises made 50 years ago, argues Steve Iliffe

  • Operating in the public interest?

    Waiting times for appointments in many NHS specialties are increasing — yet the same consultants can be seen privately within a few days. John Yates asks why nobody seems interested in solving the problem

  • Harder labour for midwives

    Anthea Symonds analyses the events which have lead up to recent calls for strike action by midwives

  • Figuring out league tables

    Hospital league tables might be a good idea if the right information was being collected, says the Radical Statistics Health Group

  • Making it up as they go along?

    Do the government’s plans to expand GP fundholding mark the start of a new, consumer-friendly NHS — or the abandonment of progress towards accountability and equity in health care? Wendy Moore canvasses opinion

  • A foot in both camps

    Rosa Hudson has dipped a reluctant toe into the chilly waters of NHS planning

  • Burnley Trust: just about managing?

    Recent events in Burnley NHS Trust sound like another tale of ‘macho management’ running amok. But it’s hard to spot the good guys in this particular story, says Alan Walters

  • Vocational workers or shirkers?

    What’s all the fuss about performance-related pay? Edmund Heery explains the issues behind the headlines

  • Not waving but drowning

    The prospects for health reform in the US have plummeted along with the political fortunes of President Clinton. Geof Rayner explains how it all went wrong for Bill’s bill

  • Cold hearts and coronaries

    Campaigns to combat heart disease ask us to change the way we live our lives. Instead, they should attempt to change the world we live in, says Sonja Hunt

  • ’Growing old is like being increasingly penalised for a crime you haven’t committed̵

    So wrote Anthony Powell in his novel Temporary Kings — and his words ring true in the wake of revelations that some NHS patients are being denied treatment solely on grounds of age. Here, John Brazier, Paula Jones and Adam Darkins examine aspects of the relationship between elderly people and health care

  • ‘Growing old is like being increasingly penalised for a crime you haven’t committed̵

    So wrote Anthony Powell in his novel Temporary Kings — and his words ring true in the wake of revelations that some NHS patients are being denied treatment solely on grounds of age. Here, John Brazier, Paula Jones and Adam Darkins examine aspects of the
    relationship between elderly people and health care

  • ’Growing old is like being increasingly penalised for a crime you haven’t committed̵

    So wrote Anthony Powell in his novel Temporary Kings — and his words ring true in the wake of revelations that some NHS patients are being denied treatment solely on grounds of age. Here, John Brazier, Paula Jones and Adam Darkins examine aspects of the relationship between elderly people and health care

  • Too casual by half

    The government says the NHS should ‘set an example to other employers’ in creating a healthy workplace. Yet new ‘flexible’ employment practices in the health service will create a low paid, casualised — and unhealthy — labour force, warns Bob Abberley

  • Through the mill of Dutch health care reform

    Dutch Labour party minister Hans Simons has left office, apparently defeated in his attempt to introduce ‘managed competition’. Now health care in the Netherlands faces an uncertain future. Marja Gastelaars reports

  • Losing their patients?

    Everybody is talking about the quality of health services — but nobody’s asking the people who know, says Arthur Clarke

  • Who killed Harry Elphick?

    Whose fault is it when a middle-aged smoker is refused heart surgery? Steve Iliffe reports from the ethical front line

  • Holding on while letting go

    The Jenkins/Langlands review of health service management, now sitting on the minister’s desk, could herald new turmoil in the NHS. Steve Harrison and Margaret Goose explain

  • Low tax means no brass

    As the government’s economic problems deepen, the question of how health services should be paid for is back on the political agenda. Allyson Pollock examines ‘expert opinion’ on the issue

  • The right medicine for nursing?

    Nursing is changing fast, and runs the risk of fragmenting into a thousand allied professions, says Barry Clifton

  • Disempowering the doctors

    The power and status of consultants is threatened by developments within the profession itself, as well as by the government’s changes to the NHS. David Gladstone offers a historical perspective

  • Brand loyalty

    Jo Brand talks to Frank Chalmers about condoms, colostomies, community care — and her loyalty to the NHS

  • But will the doctors buy it?

    Allowing GP fundholders to purchase community nursing may reverse years of achievement, argues Jean Orr

  • Is the future fundholding?

    GP fundholding was supposed to ‘kickstart’ the internal market of the new NHS. But the policy could now be on a collision course with the rest of the reforms. David Hardy reports

  • Fewer beds, but more patients?

    What’s the statistical verdict on the NHS changes? The Radical Statistics Health Group offer some early evidence

  • Caring work is hard work

    Unpaid carers cope with a far greater burden of illness and disability than formal health services, yet remain invisible and ignored. So professional staff shouldn’t be surprised when carers show just how much they do care, says Nicky James

  • New queues for old

    The rapid rise in waiting lists since the general election has been hailed by the health secretary as “proof that the NHS changes are working”. But the truth is stranger even than this fiction, explains Penny Mullen

  • Never mind the quality, feel the mix

    If skill mix reviews are solely cost-led then care standards will fall, warns Malcolm Wing

  • Private health care: just what the doctor ordered?

    Does private medicine help or hinder the NHS? Here, Lorrayne Holt and Lorna Roshier contribute opposing views, from their general studies essays, to the panacea-or-parasite debate.

  • Home thoughts from abroad

    With the NHS reforms hardly bedded down, the health debate has already turned to Europe and the US. Steve Iliffe surveys the lessons to be learned from experience elsewhere

  • What do people want?

    Gaining ‘consumer’ views in the new NHS is not simply a technical issue, says Safder Mohammed

  • Capital planning or market chaos?

    What is the future for London’s NHS afteer Tomlinson? Can — or should — the great London teaching hospitals survive? Paul Martin analyses the background to the latest crisis in the NHS

  • 25 years on: one woman’s story

    In the year that the 1967 Abortion Act marks its twenty-fifth anniversary, a young Muslim woman turns to the NHS for an abortion. Here, she tells her story to Philippa Cooper

  • After the wall came down

    Reunification has proved a mixed blessing for healthcare in Germany, reports Uli Freudenstein

  • Will we still recognise the NHS in 1997?

    With the election of a fourth Conservative government, Britain has now voted for the NHS reforms. Paul Martin calls on supporters of the health service to face up to the new political realities of the nineties

  • Sorry — no work today, nurse…

    There are already signs that health care workers could become deskilled in the new NHS, warns Malcolm Wing

  • A growing health service?

    What’s really happening to spending on the health service? Is the government right to claim the NHS never had it so good — or is it being statistical with the truth? The Radical Statistics Health Group investigates

  • An opportunity to put health before health care

    The NHS reforms together with the forthcoming restructuring of local government provide the perfect moment for a paradigm shift which would put health back at the centre of health policy, argues David Hunter

  • Yes, Minister?

    You may be unhappy about the state of the NHS, but what would you do as health minister? healthmatters readers and writers take up the challenge

  • Waiting lists: the long and the short of it

    The government is highlighting waiting list reductions as proof that the NHS reforms have ‘worked’. But does a falling waiting list imply a more efficient NHS? The Radical Statistics Health Group examines the facts

  • Pollution needs a good airing

    Air quality should be accurate, understandable and more widely available, says Mary Stevens

  • Midwives and medicine: what will the future deliver?

    A new, research-based and woman-centred midwifery is emerging from the shadow of medical dominance. But what vision do midwives themselves hold of the future? Jane Muzira reports

  • A law of diminishing returns

    The new ‘honest’ NHS is setting explicit limits on services. But is it legal? Peter Old gives his verdict

  • Operating in the public interest?

    How should the doctors — and other professions of health care — be accountable to the public they serve? Meg Stacey, previously a lay member of the GMC, examines the modern role of this ‘gentlemans’ club’

  • Partnership in good health

    Mercy Jeyasingham reports on Black users’ experiences of acute health services — and finds much to put right

  • Don’t narrow the debate

    Everyone is talking about rationing resources for healthcare. But there are more basic questions to answer first, says Robert Page

  • Jumping to confusion

    Was it a ‘smooth take-off?’ Is it really working for patients? David Harvey surveys the chaotic first six months of the ‘reformed NHS’

  • From here to perversity?

    The new NHS is founded on the government’s belief in the efficiency of the market. Steve Harrison explains why too much ‘economic rationality’ may be bad for your health

  • Let the woman decide

    Abortion on request is still the goal, says Jane Roe

  • Untangling the reforms

    The changes in the health service have produced a muddle of roles, says Chris Fewtrell. What is needed now is a clear vision of the way forward

  • Hands up for democracy!

    The structure of the health service reflects a history of political compromise and personal rivalry, says Colin Thunhurst — and now the arguments for local authority control of the NHS are stronger than ever

  • Money for nothing?

    Establishing an internal market in blood products risks losing the ‘gift relationship’ for ever, warns Jim Smith

  • Which internal market?

    The ability of the health service to balance consumer choice against community need is now to depend on market forces. Penelope Mullen dissects out not one but two internal markets in the new NHS

  • After Mao, the market

    Health policy in China over the past decade has emphasised ‘modernisation’. Sheila Hillier examines the practical results of China’s moves towards privatisation in healthcare

  • Stemming the ‘second wave’

    Government efforts to extend privatisation to NHS labs should be vigorously resisted, says John Chowcat

  • USSR: Perestroika hits the health service

    Escalating medical costs and ever ageing populations are forcing healthcare systems around the world into a period of transition. Lydia Novak explains the Soviet reforms — and finds surprising parallels with the British experience

  • Health watch is here...

    Sarah Bidwell describes the West Midlands Health Service Monitoring Unit

  • In need of a creche course

    Competition is hotting up to attract women workers into a declining labour force, says Christine Geraghty. But is the NHS being left behind by private industry?

  • Calculating the cost of competition

    As clinical services head towards the open market, Stephen Bach examines the record of competitive tendering

  • Heading for his Waterloo

    On the anniversary of the defeat of Napoleon’s final grandiose campaign, Kenneth Clark would do well to learn from history and take the counsel of his lieutenants and footsoldiers, warns David Hardy

  • Who’s helping who...

    Managers are supposed to help, not hinder nurses’ work. But what is the reality, asks Barry Clifton

  • Privatisation: selling off the regional silver

    The NHS regions in England are the invisible layer of the health service. But the government is encouraging the buying-out and selling-off of all their best assets, says Alastair Henderson

  • Can’t they go and see their GP?

    Clinics can provide more than ‘clinical’ care, says Connie Smith

  • Pictures of health

    A survey of peoples views on healthcare in Clapham, south London, produced a surprising divergence between lay people and the professionals. Rosemary Dun explains

  • The NHS: why defend the indefensible?

    The call has gone out to ‘save the NHS’. But why, and for whom, asks Mark Ponnampalam

  • Our doctors are all revolting

    The fat cats are fighting back in defence of the NHS, says Alan Walters. But are they just protecting their own cream?

  • Wrap the bacon round your neck…

    Anniversaries have been all the rage this year. Frank Chalmers takes a humorous look at what healthcare can learn from the past

  • What role now for CHCs?

    Where do community health councils go from here? Fedelma Winkler, organiser for the Greater London Association of CHCs, talks to healthmatters

  • Life in the fast lane

    Acute sector healthcare is under continual pressure to introduce fast-stream initiatives. But at what cost, asks Teresa Stratford

• Interviews

  • Opposition guaranteed

    As New Labour’s modernisation of the NHS falters, what big ideas do the Conservatives have in store? Shadow health minister Liam Fox spoke exclusively to healthmatters

  • Clinton’s New Deal for a healthier America

    President Clinton’s health care reform programme
    is gathering momentum, but faces powerful vested interests. Victor Sidel spoke to Steve Iliffe about the prospects for reform

  • Keen on collaboration, not competition

    The NHS Support Federation remains in the front line of the battle to win the argument over the government’s NHS reforms. Its chair, Professor Harry Keen, spoke to healthmatters

  • A battle won, but not the war

    With three local ambulance services ‘opting out’, the future for ambulance crews again looks uncertain. NUPE chief negotiator Roger Poole talks to Steve lliffe about the prospects for the service

• Columns

  • News from Nowhere

  • News from Nowhere

  • Who pays for the trip for a hip?

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • Learning from PCT-land

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • Health without commandments

    In celebration of healthmatters’ half-century, Seedhouse Says… presents a commemorative cut-out-and-keep guide to the perpetual battle over the NHS

  • News from nowhere

  • Why do we put up with Label Culture?

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • It’s time to change the culture – for good

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • It’s time these codes were broken

  • News from nowhere

  • Look back in wonder

    New Labour will learn nothing about running health services if it ignores its socialist history, warns Charles Webster

  • News from nowhere

  • New Labour promises but old Tory policies

    Labour’s warm embrace of the Private Finance Initiative for the NHS stands in stark – and disturbing – contrast to the impression it had previously given to Labour voters, says Charles Webster

  • Is this a direct line or a wrong number?

  • Time to breach the contract

    GPs’ contracts have altered little since 1913, but the advent of PCGs may change all that, says Charles Webster

  • The very long history of the PCG

    It’s taken a very long time to prise open the private world of family doctor administration, says Charles Webster

  • We can go beyond individualism in the NHS

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • Launching the new NHS – on a tight budget

    Preparing for the new health service in 1948 was an uphill struggle – and even organising the publicity met with opposition, explains Charles Webster

  • News from nowhere

  • News from nowhere

  • Considering a leap in the dark

    GP Katy Gardner ponders the pros and cons of becoming a trust employee

  • News from nowhere

  • Where is Labour’s vision for the NHS of 1997?

    In 1945, Labour’s modernising and egalitarian vision for a National Health Service helped to win the election. In 1997 the vision seems to have faded badly, says Charles Webster

  • News from nowhere

  • Why has it taken so long to achieve so little?

    The need for effective procedures for complaint has been present since the birth of the NHS. Charles Webster asks why the new system is weaker than one proposed over 20 years ago

  • News from nowhere

  • A spirit of healthy competition

    The fiftieth anniversary of Bevan’s widely welcomed NHS Bill is a good moment to reflect on the scale of his achievement, says Charles Webster

  • Beware the Hypocritic Oath

    Eric the Heretic has been casting a cynical eye over recent political antics

  • Health. Welfare. Internal Markets. Is there a problem here?

  • Will New Labour restore old democracy?

    What will Labour do about the very obvious ‘democratic deficit’ in the NHS? Perhaps they should take a look at the historical record of local authorities in managing health services, says Charles Webster

  • The battle for the health centre

    With all the talk of a primary care led NHS, it is easy to take the existence of the health centre for granted. But it was not always so, explains Charles Webster

  • SOS: Save our sanity, salary our service!

    An acute shortage of doctors is threatening Rosa’s practice—and her stress level

  • News from nowhere

  • Goodbye to all that?

    In this brand new column, Charles Webster will look back at the important events of 50 years ago. What lessons should today’s policymakers learn from the past?

  • News from nowhere

  • No mere appendix

    Eric is as outraged as everyone else over the story of the Little Nurse who Could

  • For real answers, face up to the real problems

  • News from nowhere

  • But can the market deliver?

    Eric the Heretic bears down on the market niche of ‘independent midwifery’

  • Now try fantasy teletext

  • News from nowhere

  • Stop the world - I want to retire!

    Life on the front line of health care is beginning to take its toll on Rosa Hudson

  • Keep young and beautiful...

    Eric the Heretic fearlessly speaks the truth on rational rationing

  • Sack the manager!

  • The prince and the pauper

  • Planning for dreams?

    Rosa Hudson wonders whether general practice is on the right track

  • In sickness, not health

    A health service is the last thing we need, says Eric the Heretic

  • INTRODUCING MISSIKIT — THE LATEST IN ADVANCED COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY

  • Who killed the NHS?

    Eric the Heretic points the finger of guilt

  • It’s time to broaden our moral horizons

  • What more could you ask for?

    Eric the Heretic speaks his mind — straight from the horse’s mouth

  • Zen and the art of health care

  • What’s the need for health care?

  • Don’t be duped by democracy

  • Invoice your doctor

  • Ten things you never knew about… European healthcare

  • Abolish the health service

  • Come clean and be counted

    Patient consent is a valuable human right, and it should be extended to cover hospital closures, says David Seedhouse

  • Putting health on the map

    Maddy Halliday, co-ordinator of Healthy Sheffield 2000, talks to healthmatters about the planning the public doesn’t see

  • What’s so special about dying?

• News

  • Doubts cast on US healthcare model

  • UCLH struggles to balance books

  • Will foundations’ patients come before creditors?

  • Healthcare standards neglect public health

  • News in brief 2

  • PCTs slow to bite on healthy eating policy

  • Mental health: high priority but low funding

  • News in brief 2

  • Anger as new wave of foundation hospitals is announced

  • Poorest areas lose out on NHS funding too

  • Target to quit could stub out services

  • Healthy, wealthy and more healthcare too

  • Stormy autumn is forecast for foundation hospital plans

  • Maternity reform fails to deliver

  • GPs vote on new contract

  • NHS foundation hospitals: ‘battle willl recommence’

  • No problems, please – we’re the NHS

  • ‘Patient choice’ could drain NHS of cash

  • News in brief 1

  • New challenge to ‘oppressive’ mental health care

  • Lords vote delays bed blocking bill for a year

    Campaigners have welcomed a significant victory in the vote by the House of Lords to delay the government’s bed blocking bill by a year but are still pressing to throw the reform out altogether.

  • Women fear cancer – yet heart disease kills more

  • News in brief 2

  • Internal market harmed patients, new study finds

  • Opposition mounts to ‘bed blockers’ bill

  • Some hospitals have five times more doctors per patient than others

  • PFI critic ‘singled out’ for attack by Commons report

  • Labour plans ‘worse than Mrs Thatcher’

  • NHS policy U-turn is ‘costly experiment’

  • A&E waiting times prompt national debate on beds

  • NHS faces new financial crisis

  • MPs split on role of the private sector

  • NHS ‘underfunded by £267bn’ since 1972 admits government report

  • Labour’s BUPA deal ‘depressing’

  • MP calls for inquiry into medical racism

  • Low pay is still widespread in NHS hospitals

  • NHS ranked 24 in efficiency table

  • In brief

  • Labour’s plans for NHS meet strong protest

  • WTO ‘may hasten NHS privatisation’

  • Milburn sets inequality targets

  • Milburn ‘stuffs their mouths with gold’

  • NHS helps private sector fill beds

  • PFI threat to primary care

  • Challenge to consultants’ contracts

  • NHS Plan sets target to reduce inequality

  • ‘Take NHS out of government hands’

  • Time to ‘think the unthinkable’ on NHS charges

  • Private Finance Initiative comes under pressure

  • PFI could lead to private monopolies

  • Stress in NHS staff is reaching ‘worrying levels’

  • Primary care workers doubt viability of Labour’s fundholding alternative

  • NHS trusts increasingly turn to private earnings

  • Poor management is a key health issue, say NHS staff

  • Public believes in free health care but fears it will be lost

  • NHS needs ‘a new constitution’

  • Private beds may be used as winter pressures mount

  • Hospital plans for Birmingham follow ‘meaningless’ survey

  • Public involvement should be backed by new rights

  • Concerns over likely short and long term effects of the PFI on the NHS

  • CHCs are looking out for the user’s views in GP commissioning

  • Those policies so far

  • New figures show London’s health services under increasing strain

  • Danger: modern management may damage your health

  • Majority of GPs ‘disenchanted’ with reforms

  • Local pay isn’t helping low paid NHS staff

  • NHS abortions are ‘effectively means-tested’

  • A&E pressure builds as beds are closed

  • Equity in primary health care

  • Changes in primary care put Labour on the defensive

  • NHS ‘could be run by transnationals’

  • Don’t commercialise the NHS, warn US doctors

  • Barnet health director slams the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ NHS

  • How many Londoners are dying for one of these?..

  • Health professionals under pressure to aid human rights abuses

  • Academics call for explicit ‘menu’ of NHS services

  • More than skin deep...

  • Growth in private insurance undermines support for the NHS

  • Local authorities and the NHS ‘abandon elderly care’

  • The ‘primary care-led NHS’ need not be fundholding, say commissioning GPs

  • Think-tank calls for NHS democracy

  • In brief

  • Health authorities make equity of access their goal access their goal

  • NHS overheads have doubled, says consultants’ association

  • NHS waiting times grow while surgeons work for the rich

  • Inequality set to widen within the NHS itself

  • NHS managers become an embarrassment

  • New primary care organisation aims to bridge the fundholding divide

  • NHS staff united against local pay deals

  • Skill mix reviews risk neglecting quality of care, warns UNISON

  • Battles brewing over local NHS pay schemes

  • NHS internal market is an ‘uncontrolled monster’

  • Out-of-hours medical care may be commercialised

  • Invisible homeless falling into healthcare gap

  • Difficulties arranging hospital admission ‘have doubled since NHS reforms’

  • Sexual health care by GPs limited by lack of choice and condoms

  • In brief

  • Privatising options on parade

  • NHS beds for NHS patients

  • Time to go Dutch?

  • In brief

  • Government slows down race towards budget holding

  • New study shows UK among lowest spenders on health in EC

  • Thousands untreated in NHS shake-up

  • A drink a day keeps the doctor at bay

  • In brief

  • A guide to the Newspeak

  • Midwives want government to deliver

  • Guernsey stalls on private deal

  • GPs firm on fundholding

  • A missed opportunity for women

  • So how are the reforms going?

  • One city, four regions

  • In brief

  • Some patients are more equal…

  • Charging ahead with the new NHS

  • In brief

  • Long march to shorter hours

  • Threat to ex-GDR clinics

  • Surgical price war

  • ’Free’ GP computers crash

  • In brief

  • NHS reforms limit choice

  • The first casualty: truth

  • Dirty dozen

  • Condom capping

  • Donors gain a voice

  • Opt out, opt out, shake it all about

  • In brief

  • Ballots say no to NHS white paper

  • What did you do in 1990?

  • User groups look for safeguards

  • Eye-test figures plummet

  • Ten things you never knew about… NHS pay

  • One million names could save NHS

  • Importing a US reject

• Reviews

  • The personal is political

    Personal medical services pilots – Modernising primary care?
    Edited by Richard Lewis, Stephen Gillam and Clare Jenkins
    King’s Fund,2001. £14.99

  • Values and money

    Hidden Assets: Values and decision making in the NHS
    Edited by Bill New and Julia Neuberger
    King’s Fund, 2002. £17.00

  • Minor irritant

    The Insider’s Guide to the NHS – how it works and why it sometimes doesn’t
    Roy Lilley
    Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd, 2003. £17.95

  • A solution in search of a problem

    Public Interest: New Models for Delivering Public Services?
    Jane Steele, Mary Tetlow and Alison Graham
    Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2003. £5.00

  • Healthcare Performance & Organisational Culture
    Tim Scott, Russell Mannion, Huw Davies and Martin Marshall
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2003. £24.95

  • Spin bowlers

    They’ve had a good innings – can the NHS cope with an ageing population?
    John Grimley Evans, Stephen Pollard, Karol Sikora, Roger Williams
    Civitas, 2003. £5.95

  • Sexist healing?

    Well Women: the gendered nature of health care provision
    Anne Morris and Susan Nott (eds)
    Ashgate Publishing, 2002. £47.50

  • State of the nations

    Primary Care in the UK
    Stephen Peckham and Mark Exworthy
    Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. £17.99

  • So many good intentions

    Planning, Markets and Hospitals
    John Mohan
    Routledge, 2002. £16.99

  • The Investigator’s Handbook

    Centre for Public Services, 2003

  • Listen, learn and remember

    EVERY VOICE COUNTS: primary care organisations and public involvement
    Will Anderson, Dominique Florin, Steve Gillam and Lesley Mountford
    King’s Fund, 2002, £7.99

  • An eclectic scrapbook of snapshots

    ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTH CARE: strategic issues in health care management
    Rosemary Rushmer, Huw Davies and Manouche Tavakoli (eds)
    Ashgate, 2002, £39.95

  • Tribes and tribulations

    NURSING, MEDICINE AND PRIMARY CARE
    Anne Williams
    Open University Press, 2000, £16.99

  • We’ve been hospitalised

    HOSPITALS IN A CHANGING EUROPE
    Martin McKee and Judith Healy (eds)
    Open University Press, 2002, £22.50

  • A dose of reality

    ETHNICITY, EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND THE BRITISH NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE
    Paul Iganski and David Mason
    Ashgate Publications, 2002, £39.95

  • Return of a classic case

    THE CEREMONIAL ORDER OF THE CLINIC
    PM Strong (edited by Robert Dingwall)
    Ashgate Publishing Ltd, 2001, £45

  • Counselling and despair

    THE USE OF COUNSELLING SKILLS IN THE EMERGENCY SERVICES
    Angela Hetherington
    Open University Press, 2001

  • Never knowingly undersold

    ECONOMIC EVALUATION IN HEALTH CARE
    Edited by Mike Drummond and Alastair McGuire
    Oxford University Press, 2001, £26.50

  • And how would you like to pay?

    FUNDING HEALTH CARE: OPTIONS FOR EUROPE
    Edited by Elias Mossialos, Anna Dixon, Josep Figueras and Joe Kutzin
    Open University Press, 2002, £22.50

  • Collective action

    WORKING TOGETHER OR PULLING APART? The National Health Service and child protection networks
    Carol Lupton, Nancy North, Parves Khan
    The Policy Press, 2001, £15.99

  • Services all inclusive? inclusive?

    STIGMA AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN HEALTHCARE
    Tom Mason, Caroline Carlisle, Caroline Watkins, Elizabeth Whitehead (eds)
    Routledge, 2001, £16.99

  • A reader’s digest

    CLASSIC TEXTS IN HEALTH CARE
    Lesley MacKay, Keith Soothill, Kath Melia (eds)
    Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998, £19.50

  • Caught in the net

    The Patient’s Internet Handbook
    Robert Kiley and Elizabeth Graham
    Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2001, £9.95

  • Criminal practices

    INCARCERATION HUMANE AND INHUMANE: human values and health care in British prisons
    Stuart Horner and Meg Stacey (eds)
    The Nuffield Trust, 1999

  • Primary principles

    TRUST IN EXPERIENCE: Transferable learning for primary care trusts
    Meads G, Meads T (eds)
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2001, £24.50

  • Voices of experience

    WHAT’S GONE WRONG WITH HEALTH CARE?
    Alison Hill (ed)
    King’s Fund, 2001, £14.99

  • Muddying the waters

    PUBLIC SERVICES OR CORPORATE WELFARE: Rethinking the Nation State in the Global Economy
    Dexter Whitfield
    Pluto, 2001, £16.99
    
    MAKING SENSE OF THE PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE
    Courtney A Smith
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1999, £27.50

  • Organised chaos in social services

    COMMISSIONING AND PURCHASING
    Terry Bamford
    Routledge, 2002, £14.99

  • Change reactions

    SPOTLIGHT ON GENERAL PRACTICE
    Sally Irvine and Hilary Haman
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000, £18.95

  • White coat, white club

    RACISM IN MEDICINE: an agenda for change
    Naaz Coker (ed)
    King’s Fund, 2001, £15.99

  • So far, so good in practice

    A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PRIMARY CARE GROUPS AND TRUSTS
    Michael Dixon and Kieran Sweeney (eds)
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000, £22.50

  • Crossing the (I)Ts?

    THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE INTERNET FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
    SS Chellen
    Routledge, 2000

  • How best to organise health care?

    THE NHS: Facing the future
    Anthony Harrison and Jennifer Dixon
    King’s Fund, 2000

  • New-look look back

    HEALTH CARE UK: THE KING’S FUND REVIEW OF HEALTH POLICY (1999/2000)
    John Appleby and Anthony Harrison (eds)
    King’s Fund, 1999

  • GP rules on CD, OK?

    The Electronic Red Book
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000, £99.00

  • Why PFI should go

    PRIVATE FINANCE IN HEALTH CARE: WHY NOT
    Ben Griffith
    NHS Consultants Association, 2000, £3.00

  • Committment to caring

    NURSING PRACTICE, POLICY AND CHANGE
    Marjorie Gott (ed)
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000

  • New ideas in practices

    TRANSFORMING PRIMARY CARE: personal medical services in the new NHS
    Richard Lewis & Stephen Gillam (eds)
    Kings Fund, 1999, £12.99

  • Whose quality of life is it?

    EXPERIENCING CANCER: quality of life in treatment
    Kirsten Costain Schou and Jenny Hewison
    Open University Press, 1999

  • Dial M for medicine

    THE TELEMEDICINE TOOLKIT: A workbook for NHS doctors, nurses and managers
    Roy Lilley and John Navein
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 2000

  • Not just academic

    CHANGE-PROMOTING RESEARCH FOR HEALTH SERVICES
    AS St Leger, JP Walsworth-Bell
    Open University Press, 1999

  • View from the top

    THE POLITICS OF NHS REFORM 1988-87: metaphor or reality?
    Chris Ham
    King’s Fund, 2000

  • A gender for health

    WOMEN AND HEALTH SERVICES
    Lesley Doyal (ed)
    Open University Press, 1998

  • Breeding discontent

    BRAVE NEW NHS? The impact of the new genetics on the health service
    Jo Lenaghan
    IPPR, 1998, £7.50

  • Sound, but safe

    INFORMATION FOR EVIDENCE-BASED CARE
    Ruth Roberts
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1999, £17.95

  • On the net yet? You bet!

    USING THE INTERNET IN HEALTHCARE
    Stuart Tyrrell
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1999, £17.95

  • Middle of the field

    RURAL HEALTH CARE
    J Cox & I Mungall (eds)
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1999, £22.50

  • Take care

    TAKING ACTION TO SUPPORT CARERS
    Penny Banks & Colin Cheeseman
    Kings Fund, 1999, £9.95

  • Promoting the healing arts

    THE ARTS IN HEALTHCARE: learning from experience
    Duncan Haldane & Susan Loppert (eds)
    King’s Fund, 1999, £12.95

  • The PACE of change

    EXPERIENCE, EVIDENCE AND EVERYDAY PRACTICE: creating systems for delivering effective health care
    M Dunning, G Abi-Aad, D Gilbert, H Hutton, C Brown
    Kings Fund, 1999, £12.95

  • Having fun with PCGs

    WRITING INVESTMENT PLANS AND HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMMES
    THE PCG TEAM BUILDER
    THE PCG TOOL KIT
    Roy Lilley
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1999

  • Overvalued but not yet over here

    Managed Health Care
    Ray Robinson and Andrea Steiner
    Open University Press, 1998, £16.99

  • Too businesslike by half

    The NHS: Myth, Monster or Service? Action Learning in Hospital
    Nelson Coghill and James Stewart
    The Revans Press, Salford, 1998

  • The moral maybes

    ETHICS AND VALUES IN HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT
    Souzy Dracopoulou (ed)
    Routledge, 1998

  • Growing beyond good intentions

    DEMENTIA RECONSIDERED: the person comes first
    Tom Kitwood
    Open University Press, 1997, £14.99
    CULTURE, RELIGION AND CHILDBEARING IN A MULTIRACIAL SOCIETY: a handbook for health professionals
    Judith Schott & Alix Henley
    Butterworth Heinmann, 1996, £19.99

  • Soundbites and scholarship

    GENERAL PRACTICE UNDER THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE 1948-97
    Loudon I, Horder J & Webster C (eds)
    Clarendon Press, 1998, £45.00
    THE PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE NHS: your questions answered
    Norman Vetter
    Radcliffe, 1998

  • Whose NHS is it anyway?

    MANAGING PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN HEALTHCARE PURCHASING
    Carol Lupton, Stephen Peckham and Pat Taylor
    Open University Press, 1998, £16.99

  • Should we do all that is possible?

    TRAGIC CHOICES IN HEALTH CARE: the case of Child B
    Chris Ham and Susan Pickard
    King’s Fund, 1998, £15.00

  • A scrapbook of the NHS

    HEADLINE HEALTH: a Health Service Journal history of the NHS
    Wendy Moore & Georgina Bryon (eds)
    Emap Healthcare, 1998, £13.99

  • What it is we really need?

    THE NEED FOR HEALTHCARE
    Rod Sheaff
    Routledge, 1996, £13.99

  • Not barking, and no bite

    MANAGEMENT AND COMPETITION IN THE NHS
    Chris Ham
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1997

  • Management roles OK?

    HELPING DOCTORS WHO MANAGE: learning from experience
    Judith Riley
    King’s Fund, 1997, £17.00

  • Stories from the trenches

    WHO CARES? TRUE STORIES OF THE NHS REFORMS
    Peter Bruggen
    Jon Carpenter Publishing, 1997, £12.00

  • Beyond the QALY

    QUALITY OF LIFE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
    Joseph Oliver, Peter Huxley, Keith Bridges, Hadi Mohamad
    Routledge, 1997, £14.99

  • Efficient use of resources

    MANAGING SCARCITY: priority setting and rationing in the National Health Service
    Rudolph Klein, Patricia Day, and Sharon Redmayne
    Open University Press, 1996, £13.99

  • ‘Selling’ care to customers

    MARKETING AND HEALTH CARE ORGANISATIONS
    Colin Gilligan and Robin Lowe
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1995, £18.50

  • Community and trust

    MARKETS AND NETWORKS: contracting in community health services
    Rob Flynn, Gareth Williams, Susan Pickard
    Open University Press, 1996, £14.99

  • Budgets for all by the year 2000

    Purchaser plurality in UK health care
    Nicholas Mays and Jennifer Dixon
    King’s Fund, 1996
    A review of innovations in primary health care
    Lyn Harrison and Hilary Neve
    The Policy Press, 1996, £14.95

  • Dissecting ‘the hidden hand’

    Social policy for nurses and the caring professions
    Louise Ackers and Pamela Abbott
    Open University Press, 1996, £12.99

  • Say it in Spanish

    Say it in Spanish: a guide for health care professionals
    EV Joya, ME Villanueva
    WB Saunders, 1996, £11.00

  • Heartfelt but hazy

    The invisible hospital and the secret garden: an insider’s commentary on the NHS reforms
    John Spiers
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1995, £18.50

  • Appraising appraisal

    PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS: Theory and Practice in the National Health Service
    Hugh Flanagan and Peter Spurgeon
    Open University Press, 1996, £14.99

  • An eye on the capital

    London Monitor 1996
    Sean Boyle and Richard Hamblin (eds)
    King’s Fund, 1996, £9.95

  • Who will lead the’primary care-led’ NHS?

    MANAGING THE PRACTICE - WHOSE BUSINESS?
    June Huntington
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1995, £16.50

  • Conflicting interests in practice

    Practitioners and Practices
    Julian Pratt
    Radcliffe Medical Press, 1995, £16.50

  • Cut it out!

    Private eye, heart amd hip: surgical consultants, the NHS and private medicine
    John Yates
    Churchill Livingstone, 1995, £14.95

  • How did they do that?

    Implementing GP fundholding
    Howard Glennerster et al
    Open University Press,