Publication year: 2011
Source: Social Science & Medicine, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 24 August 2011
Stuart, Anderson
In England recent health reforms have resulted in a shift of emphasis from targets to outcomes, and to the provision of healthcare by any willing provider. The outcomes described encompass clinical and public service outcomes such as choice and access. The range of organizations providing healthcare services is large and increasing. Whilst many are clearly located in either the public or private sectors, others have features of both public and private organizations, and are not easily characterised as either one or the other.Analytical frameworks are generally underdeveloped, and have not kept pace with changes in organization forms. This article reviews…
Highlights: ► Recent English health reforms have resulted in a shift of focus from targets to outcomes and to provision of care by any provider. ► The wide range of organizations now providing healthcare services are not easily classified as either public or private. ► A publicness grid for hospitals locates them according to the extent of their political and economic authority. ► A framework is given linking core, dimensional and normative publicness and their indicators to public service outcomes. ► Publicness theory can help health administrators and researchers understand and better manage public service outcomes.