<title/> This article examines collaborations between primary care trusts in the commissioning of secondary care services in England. It applies principal-agent theory qualitatively to two case studies. The theory suggests that collaboration should take place if organizations share relevant information...

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the inter‐ and intra‐organisational relationships in the commissioning of secondary care by primary care trusts in England, using a principal‐agent framework. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is a qualitative study of...

This paper explores 'expert' constructions of public concerns about food within a sociological framework. Concerns about potential risks in food have become controversial social and political issues in Britain in recent years. This paper reflects on these wider debates, and on sociological work...

An interpretive qualitative study was carried out as part of a large cohort study of factors affecting outpatient re-attendance. Individuals from three groups involved in the provision of care across the primary-secondary interface were interviewed: patients, general practitioners and...

The UK National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Clinical Guidelines recommend routine prescription of antidepressants for moderate to severe depression. While many patients accept a prescription, one in three do not complete treatment. We carried out a meta-ethnography of published...

While climate change action plans are becoming more common, it is still unclear whether communities have the capacity, tools, and targets in place to trigger the transformative levels of change required to build fundamentally low-carbon, resilient, healthy communities. Evidence increasingly...

How far does ethnicity/culture/religion mediate couples' responses to genetic risk? This paper examines the responses of 51 British Pakistani couples referred to a genetics clinic in southern England to counselling about recurrence risks for genetic problems in children. It is based on fieldwork...