ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in this book. This book focuses on the part played by the labour movement in shaping hospital politics but there is a need for more studies of non-socialist authorities. By focusing on regional centres with medical schools, we have been able to assess change in the most highly developed part of the contemporary hospital system. Historians of the pre-NHS hospital system have addressed a number of themes in recent years: the scale and speed of development of both voluntary and municipal hospitals. This book provides richly textured comparison between two large but quite different cities to explore the impact of social, economic and political cultures on the development of hospital systems in the dynamic interwar period. It finally emphasizes the similarities of approach and the broad acceptance of hierarchical realities rather than the normal emphasis on difference, competition and defensiveness.
