The techniques and technologies of customer service, as introduced under the guise of e-government, have brought certain aspects of public service users into sharp focus, but at the expense of other aspects. It is hypothesised that this effect may lie behind the failure of half a decade of...

Background: In developed countries around the world there is a trend to enhance the public-private collaboration in healthcare. In Spain, a decentralized country with a NHS funded with taxes and universal coverage, commissioning to for-profit private hospitals the production of healthcare...