In the health economics literature there is an ongoing debate over approaches used to estimate the efficiency of health systems at various levels, from the level of the individual hospital- or nursing home –up to that of the health system as a whole. The two most widely used approaches to...

Contracting has played a central role in the NHS reforms as the principal mechanism by which resources are transferred from purchasers to providers. The nature, process and role of contracting are traced by examining the development of government policy on this issue since the inception of the...

The latest return to service planning in the NHS, while harnessing the perceived benefits of previous market approaches, nevertheless signals a radical change in the long-term role of the Health Authority. It is timely to examine the actual objectives of Health Authorities in view of their...