Public Law and Health Service Accountability (State of Health) - Softcover

This text examines the relationship between the processes of accountability and management within the health service in the light of the recent National Health Service and Community Care Act. The author argues that healthcare is a social entitlement, to be moulded and allocated according to rational social choices and to be protected from becoming a commodity which is largely controlled by unaccountable market forces. Insufficient attention has been given to the potential role of law in the shaping of health policy and the management of the health service as a public organization. The arguments put forward here rest on a firm belief in a constitutional backcloth for the operation of all government and public services. The author calls for greater openness in health policy planning, in management and professional activities, the introduction of standards of conduct in health service management and for the establishment of an independent "Institute of Health" to analyze and advize on health policy.