Two Creating a patient-led NHS: empowering ‘consumers’ or shrinking the state?
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Ruth McDonald
Abstract
This chapter discusses developments in health policy. It makes clear that individual choice has a number of different roles to play in healthcare. It explains that the introduction of patient choice combined with payment by results further extends the use of market mechanisms as the means for achieving quality, responsiveness and efficiency in hospital care. It concerns policy towards health care outside of hospitals, since, with regard to the NHS in England, the government is increasingly turning its attention to care beyond the hospital doors. It focuses wholly on the NHS in England, since devolution in Scotland and Wales has resulted in health policy developments that diverge somewhat from the English model. It describes policies intended to ‘fix’ the hospital sector and offers an explanation for the shift in attention beyond this sector. It also examines demand and supply-side policies.
Abstract
This chapter discusses developments in health policy. It makes clear that individual choice has a number of different roles to play in healthcare. It explains that the introduction of patient choice combined with payment by results further extends the use of market mechanisms as the means for achieving quality, responsiveness and efficiency in hospital care. It concerns policy towards health care outside of hospitals, since, with regard to the NHS in England, the government is increasingly turning its attention to care beyond the hospital doors. It focuses wholly on the NHS in England, since devolution in Scotland and Wales has resulted in health policy developments that diverge somewhat from the English model. It describes policies intended to ‘fix’ the hospital sector and offers an explanation for the shift in attention beyond this sector. It also examines demand and supply-side policies.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- List of contributors vi
- Introduction 1
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Key areas of social policy
- Personal social services: developments in adult social care 15
- Creating a patient-led NHS: empowering ‘consumers’ or shrinking the state? 33
- A ‘pivotal moment’? Education policy in England, 2005 49
- Strategic pragmatism? The state of British housing policy 65
- Social security policies in 2005 83
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Health and well-being
- More than a matter of choice? Consumerism and the modernisation of health care 101
- Being well and well-being: the value of community and professional concepts in understanding positive health 121
- Happiness and social policy: barking up the right tree in the wrong neck of the woods 145
- Using health and subjective wellbeing for quality of life measurement: a review 165
- Community well-being strategy and the legacies of new institutionalism and New Public Management in third way New Zealand 193
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Ageing and employment
- Extending working life: problems and prospects for social and public policy 221
- Age discrimination in history 249
- Training and learning in the workplace: can we legislate against age discriminatory practices? 269
- Ageing and employment: looking back, looking forward 293
- Index 313
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of figures and tables v
- List of contributors vi
- Introduction 1
-
Key areas of social policy
- Personal social services: developments in adult social care 15
- Creating a patient-led NHS: empowering ‘consumers’ or shrinking the state? 33
- A ‘pivotal moment’? Education policy in England, 2005 49
- Strategic pragmatism? The state of British housing policy 65
- Social security policies in 2005 83
-
Health and well-being
- More than a matter of choice? Consumerism and the modernisation of health care 101
- Being well and well-being: the value of community and professional concepts in understanding positive health 121
- Happiness and social policy: barking up the right tree in the wrong neck of the woods 145
- Using health and subjective wellbeing for quality of life measurement: a review 165
- Community well-being strategy and the legacies of new institutionalism and New Public Management in third way New Zealand 193
-
Ageing and employment
- Extending working life: problems and prospects for social and public policy 221
- Age discrimination in history 249
- Training and learning in the workplace: can we legislate against age discriminatory practices? 269
- Ageing and employment: looking back, looking forward 293
- Index 313
