ABSTRACT
The format of the NHS internal market has been described elsewhere in varying detail by numerous authors (for example, see Culyer, 1993b; Paton, 1994), and was briefly outlined near the beginning of the previous chapter. The first purpose of this chapter is to cover the structure of the quasi market and explain the main characteristics of the key actors within its constitution. This leads to a discussion of the factors that potentially could offer realistic explanations why the waiting times of fund-holding and other patients may have differed. In essence, that part of the chapter identifies the hypotheses that were investigated during the course of this study.
