At what cost? Paying the price for the market in the English NHS

Written By Professor Calum Paton

This analysis looks at the evidence showing that creating and maintaining markets in the NHS has incurred huge financial costs and significant ‘opportunity costs’ – money which could have spent upon patient care and clinical redesign. The analysis goes on to argue that it is possible for the NHS to offer patient choice and high-quality health-care without the market.

Professor Calum Paton

Calum Paton is Emeritus Professor of Public Policy (Health Policy), Keele University. He was Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Health Planning and Management from 1998 to 2019, and has been an adviser to several foreign governments, the European Union, and many senior British politicians. He also chaired the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust (now University Hospital of North Midlands NHS Trust) from 2000 to 2006

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