ABSTRACT
One of the problems affecting the implementation of management control in healthcare is that the characteristics of healthcare work deviate so significantly from other areas of employment, so that some controls which work well elsewhere are only poorly applicable in healthcare contexts. The purpose of Chapter 1 is to gain a sufficient understanding of the healthcare context in order to enable examination of the key issues which affect the suitability of management control practices in this setting. The chapter begins by describing the nature and importance of the healthcare sector before examining the complexities that influence the operation of management control practices within it.
