Introduction

Abstract

There is a dichotomy about the concept of quality which underpins the account in this book of how health service managers can translate good quality service provision from words into action. Much of the recent academic work on quality in health care has centred on the need to set achievable and measurable standards and it is rapidly becoming even more important to establish such measures in the trading environment of the 1990s as the contractual process evolves. In order to make any new and significant achievement, however, there is a need for a more inspirational force and the drawing out of the human instinct to strive for the ideal, even for the unattainable … to go for gold.

‘…A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?’

Browning