Rudolf Klein - Böcker

Two towering figures in the field of health care policy analysis, Theodore R. Marmor and Rudolf Klein, reflect on a lifetime of thought in this wide-ranging collection of essays published in the wake of President Obama’s health care reform. Presented as a kind of dialogue between the two, the book offers their recent writings on the future of Medicare; universal health insurance; conflicts of interest among physicians, regulators, and patients; and many other topics.

This book is in essence concerned with the quest for rationality in decision-making, and is founded on the premise that improvements in the machinery of decision-making can actually lead to better decisions. The numerous initiatives of the 1960s and 1970s established specifically to foster greater policy coordination (notably the Central Policy Review Staff or 'Think Tank') had, by the beginning of the 1980s, fallen foul of an altogether changed political climate, in which policy formation was increasingly determined by the pressures of the marketplace, rather than by the pursuit of rationally-determined consensual goals. Paradoxically, however, this process has led, in turn, to renewed interest in the possibilities of interdepartmental policy coordination, at both centre and periphery, and in Joint Approaches to Social Policy the authors seek to provide a clear understanding of what the reality, rather than the rhetoric, of policy coordination actually entails. They endeavour to familiarise policy-makers at all levels with the basic conceptual tools necessary for successful policy coordination.

Since it was first published more than 40 years ago, The New Politics of the NHS has become established as the key overview of the NHS, its processes and its paths of influence, providing a clear, easy-to-read guide to often complex debates. This eighth edition continues to encompass both the background of the evolution of the NHS since its foundation, while also providing a picture of its present and future in a more pluralistic and financially austere era in which deference to medical expertise continues to erode and information on health and care is accessible to all, while at the same time scepticism and misinformation abound.Reflecting events since the turn of the millennium and under successive government administrations, including strategies for coping with a new, much harsher economic environment, new chapters describe events in the past decade, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest change in government.Assuming no prior knowledge of NHS politics and systems, The New Politics of the NHS focuses on management, structure, centralisation, funding, economic performance, challenges, current party-political debates, interest groups and rationing, and, ultimately, on the NHS’s institutional and cultural continuity as a tax-funded service providing comprehensive, universal health care that remains free at the point of delivery. The new edition is a vital update for all healthcare professionals, NHS managers, policy-makers and shapers, and those in special interest groups including patient advocacy organisations and remains essential reading for anyone interested in developing a better understanding of modern healthcare delivery.

Since it was first published more than 40 years ago, The New Politics of the NHS has become established as the key overview of the NHS, its processes and its paths of influence, providing a clear, easy-to-read guide to often complex debates. This eighth edition continues to encompass both the background of the evolution of the NHS since its foundation, while also providing a picture of its present and future in a more pluralistic and financially austere era in which deference to medical expertise continues to erode and information on health and care is accessible to all, while at the same time scepticism and misinformation abound.Reflecting events since the turn of the millennium and under successive government administrations, including strategies for coping with a new, much harsher economic environment, new chapters describe events in the past decade, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest change in government.Assuming no prior knowledge of NHS politics and systems, The New Politics of the NHS focuses on management, structure, centralisation, funding, economic performance, challenges, current party-political debates, interest groups and rationing, and, ultimately, on the NHS’s institutional and cultural continuity as a tax-funded service providing comprehensive, universal health care that remains free at the point of delivery. The new edition is a vital update for all healthcare professionals, NHS managers, policy-makers and shapers, and those in special interest groups including patient advocacy organisations and remains essential reading for anyone interested in developing a better understanding of modern healthcare delivery.

This unique collection of the writings of Rudolf Klein - historian, journalist, political scientist and policy analyst - represents the products of his career as an observer of politics and society over the last four decades.