Decentralisation as an organisational model for health care in England

studyinghealthcare_peckham_draftfinal0205.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Background
Current NHS policy sets out a number of broad themes that include organisational freedom from central control, patient empowerment and clinical empowerment. These reflect many of the assumptions made in the literature about the benefits of decentralisation. In other sectors, as in the NHS, decentralisation is usually seen as a good thing because it:
· frees managers to manage
· enables more responsive public services, attuned to local needs
· contributes to economy by enabling organisations to shed unnecessary middle managers
· promotes efficiency by shortening previously long bureaucratic hierarchies
· produces contented and stimulated staff, with increased sense of room for manoeuvre
· makes politicians more responsive and accountable to the `people’