ABSTRACT
In the 1997 White Paper, The New NHS: Modern, Dependable (Department of Health 1997) (and its Scottish and Welsh equivalents) the UK government set out a new framework for managing and assessing the performance of the National Health Service. The Performance Framework (NHS Executive 1998) will focus on six key areas of activity and outcome: health improvement, fair access, effectiveness, efficiency, patient/carer experience, and the health outcomes of NHS care.
