ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to locate the development of managerial control in hospitals in the National Health Service within a wider analysis of the problems of health care. The assumption is made that the way in which a health service is planned, delivered and paid for – the organisation of a health service – cannot be seen in isolation from the rest of society, nor from the objectives of those who are involved in the service. At the same time, it is suggested that health service organisation reflects potential and actual social power, since it is the outcome of negotiations, persuasion and sometimes conflict between those who want a form of health care and those who provide it.
