ABSTRACT
The history of the use of performance indicators in the NHS reveals that they have suffered from many of the recognized defects of such systems. Indeed, the current proposals for a revised framework continue to reflect some of these problems (NHS Executive 1998). This issue would be less important if the nature of the performance targets did not affect management behaviour. A recent survey of a sample of NHS hospital managers, reported here, shows that target setting does influence behaviour and it follows that the wrong targets may detract from rather than promote the pursuit of efficiency (or other objectives).
