NHS

Controlling NHS Expenditure: The Impact of Labour’s NHS White Papers

1 December 1998

The English, Scottish and Welsh National Health Service (NHS) White Papers published by the government in December 1997 and January 1998, have changed the tone of…

Our Certain Fate: Rationing in Health Care

1 November 1998

Benjamin Franklin remarked in 1789 that ‘in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes’. To these two certainties the economist…

Effective Commissioning: Lessons from purchasing in American managed care

1 June 1998

It may seem odd that someone from the most overpriced, wasteful and inequitable health care system in the industrialised world should pen a report on how…

Competition and contestability between acute hospitals

1 March 1998

The 1989-1991 Conservative reforms of the National Health Service (NHS) introduced fundamental changes in the organisation of health care in the UK. At the same time…

Managed Care – A Model for the UK?

3 January 1998

This paper examines the potential for managed care techniques to develop in the UK National Health Service. It begins with a review of managed care approaches…

National Health Service Reorganisation: Learning from History?

1 January 1998

I am greatly flattered to be invited to deliver the 1998 annual lecture of the Office of Health Economics, partly on account of my distinguished predecessors,…

Drivers of the Growth in Medicines Expenditure

1 October 1997

Increases in expenditure on medicines, above the level of increases in health care expenditure generally, are a feature of all Western health systems, including the UK’s.…

Regulating Prices Paid by the NHS for Medicines Supplied by the UK-Based Pharmaceutical Industry

1 October 1997

The aim of this paper is to review alternative methods of regulating the price of pharmaceuticals bought by the NHS from the perspective of the experience of the economic regulation of other industries in the UK, notably the privatised utilities.

NHS Waiting Lists: Towards the Elusive Solution

1 August 1997

Much has been written over the last 40 years bemoaning the state of NHS waiting lists. Contributions to this literature have come from diverse fields; from…