There are four basic models of health service delivery: those that rely on trust, on command and control, on voice, and on choice and competition. All have their merits and demerits; but there are both theoretical and empirical arguments for preferring choice and competition in many situations....

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the inter‐ and intra‐organisational relationships in the commissioning of secondary care by primary care trusts in England, using a principal‐agent framework. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is a qualitative study of...

This paper addresses the extent to which equity of treatment is received by people of different ethnic groups from the British National Health Service. Using data from the General Household Surveys of 1984-1991 it examines the use of general practitioner, outpatient and inpatient services using...