The provision of health and social care for people with HIV infection or AIDS and for initiatives aimed at the prevention of the spread of HIV infection has since 1988-89 relied heavily on ring fenced Central Government funding. In 1990/91 the total earmarked central funds available for English...

This Discussion Paper argues that the government has been right both in its rejection of market solutions to health insurance and in its injection of competition into provider markets. The particular advantages of the latter are that the collective expression of demand is maintained, with...

Radiotherapy is used extensively in the treatment of many cancers. It is often used alone as the primary therapy, or in conjunction with other forms of treatment such as surgery and chemotherapy, both on a curative and palliative basis. In many instances, there are choices to be made between...

In evolutionary physiology the human body is viewed as a resource allocation mechanism working according to a predetermined set of priorities to maximise reproductive capacity. In health economics, people are viewed as having a portfolio of assets (health; wealth; and wisdom) which they manage...

In this paper we assess the current state of the art of economic appraisal of health technologies in the United Kingdom. The paper is organised along the lines suggested in the Workshop proposal. Although the main interest of the Workshop is in 'high' technology, such as imaging techniques and...

Available clinical evidence suggests that the newer antipsychotics are similar to conventional antipsychotics for positive symptom control. It has been suggested that they may also be superior for negative symptoms and side effects, but the evidence for this is unclear (Duggan et al, 1999,...

Despite uncertainty being intrinsic to economic evaluation of health care, existing techniques for handling uncertainty remain underdeveloped compared to the formal techniques commonly applied in the business sector. This paper develops an alternative approach to handling uncertainty in economic...

In the summer of 1990, the Australian government took a major step by requiring evidence of cost-effectiveness of new medicines prior to reimbursement by the public health care system. This paper assesses whether the methodological principles behind the guidelines are sound and whether they...

Pre-budget months of recent years have seen the opposing factions of industrial and public health lobbies jostling for influence over the Chancellor's alcohol and tobacco tax policy. Industry petitions for lower tax rates, citing factory closures and redundancy figures as evidence of the...

Long waiting times for inpatient treatment in the UK National Health Service have long been a source of great popular and political concern, and therefore a target for policy initiatives. One such is the London Patient Choice Project, under which patients at risk of breaching inpatient waiting...