ABSTRACT
The Department of Health (DoH) is responsible for the health of the nation. Health is denned in its broadest sense as a state of well-being, a state of ease rather than ‘dis-ease’. People mainly come into contact with health services when they find themselves in a state of ‘dis-ease’; they look to health services to return them, as far as possible (and sometimes further than possible) to their previous ‘better’ condition. Health services are therefore increasingly being evaluated in terms of the extent to which they contribute to their patients’ good clinical outcomes.
