Over the past two decades, the National Health Hospital Service has been subjected to considerable changes in its organization. 'New' public sector management (NPM) has been given the task of changing hospital culture and making service provision more efficient. Nurses, as the largest...

This special edition of the IJPSM is primarily concerned with the contemporaryrole of the hospital nurse and the effects that new management arrangementsare having (and are not having) on their work and ability to provide effectivecare. Given the controversy that surrounds the provision of...