Provider diversity in the English NHS: a study of recent developments in four local health economies.

Let’s Raise a Half-Full Glass to the Zombie NHS: A Response to Recent Commentaries

The Slow, Lingering Death of the English NHS; Comment on “Who Killed the English National Health Service?”

The death of the English National Health Service (NHS) may be slow in coming but that does not mean that it is not the Conservative-led UK government’s desired end state. The government is displaying tactical cunning in achieving its long-term purpose to remould the British state. Powell seeks greater clarity amidst the confusion but the lack of clarity is a principal weapon in the government’s...

Perspectives on the policy 'black box': a comparative case study of orthopaedics services in England.

There has been much recent debate on the impact of competition on the English National Health Service (NHS). However, studies have tended to view competition in isolation and are controversial. This study examines the impact of programme theories associated with the health system reforms, which sought to move from a dominant target-led 'central control' programme theory, to one based on 'market...

Slow Poisoning? Interests, Emotions, and the Strength of the English NHS; Comment on “Who Killed the English National Health Service?”

Martin Powell makes the point that the death of the National Health Service (NHS) is constantly asserted without criteria. This article suggests that the NHS is many things, which makes criteria unstable. The alignment of interests in the structure of the NHS enables both overheated rhetoric and political strength, and that pluralization of provision might actually undermine that alignment over...

Rhetoric and Reality in the English National Health Service; Comment on “Who Killed the English National Health Service?”

Despite fiscal stress, public confidence in the National Health Service (NHS) remains strong; privatisation has not hollowed out the service. But if long term challenges are to be overcome, pragmatism not rhetoric should be the guide.