Resourcing Health Care

Abstract

In the postwar period the public sector has dominated health care funding and provision to a greater extent in Britain than in most other comparable countries. Since the late 1970s, four major developments have influenced this model of resource allocation. These are: the growth of the private sector; pressure to restrict public spending; the focus on greater efficiency and selectivity; and the introduction of a ‘purchaser-provider’ split into the NHS. The first three are discussed in this chapter, the fourth in Chapter 8.