Performance In The National Health Service: The Insistence of Measurement and Confusion of Content

This article critically considers the evolution of performance indicators and performance measures in the U.K. National Health Service. After examining the development of performance indicators and contemporary scholarship on the subject, the author finds the performance measurement and reporting regime implemented by the New Labour government to be poorly conceived and in danger of causing distortions in the patterns of health care provision. It appears ill defined and, as a consequence, poorly executed. The author considers cases where the performance regime appears to be unable to measure the activity of health services, a project in community rehabilitation, and a public health provision in the southwest. Finally, the author makes some suggestions for the basis of an alternative performance measurement regime.