Public–private partnerships, boundary spanners and the boundary wall in the English National Health Service

The paper investigates English National Health Service (NHS) organisations partnering with private companies, a form commonly known as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Successive governments have promoted PPPs as a way of improving the delivery of health care, making the best of the different skills/experience which both sectors bring. However, the task of making these relationships work on the ground often falls to individual leaders/practitioners ("boundary spanners") whose role has been under-researched in this type of partnership.