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An important feature of the post- Working for Patients National Health Service is the introduction of quasi-markets in health care, to be created by separating the ‘purchaser’ and ‘provider’ functions formerly conflated in the role of District Health Authorities. This paper presents data from a study of the first few months of operation of the new system, focusing upon the role of purchasing authorities in rationing health care and in legitimising their decisions about how to do this.
Harrison et al. (Wed,) studied this question.