The NHS Financial Manager in 2010

In the White Paper, 'The New NHS' (Cm 3807), the competitive nature of the internal market was removed and annual contracts were replaced with long-term service agreements to facilitate best value. Using the findings from earlier research studies, the implications for NHS financial managers are discussed in this article. Financial managers have a major task in maintaining financial stability in the move from one financial regime to another. Improving budget devolution to Primary Care Groups and encouraging good financial planning and control are essential. Financial managers must develop and integrate reliable cost information into the wider performance framework.     

Facts & figures: Public sector as employer: The disables; Pay and disputes in the NHS

Management buy‐outs provide an extra option for the restructuring of State enterprises. However, as with other privatisations, they may generate problems and measures may need to be taken to ensure that the public interest is not damaged in the long term.     

The Recovery Theorem

We can only estimate the distribution of stock returns, but from option prices we observe the distribution of state prices. State prices are the product of risk aversion—the pricing kernel—and the natural probability distribution. The Recovery Theorem enables us to separate these to determine the market's forecast of returns and risk aversion from state prices alone. Among other things, this allows us to recover the pricing kernel, market risk premium, and probability of a catastrophe and to construct model‐free tests of the efficient market hypothesis.     

Resource Accounting and NHS Trusts

The introduction of capital charges into the National Health Service (NHS) was part of the movement to reflect the use of resources to deliver public sector services rather than simply report cash flows. At the time of its introduction, it was justified with reference to what was deemed to be private sector 'good practice'. This article discusses the underlying principles, examines the practical implications of this dogma and seeks to separate the rhetoric from reality.     

Pointers: Pay; Housing; NHS; Regional policy; Public expenditure; Industrial support; US deficits

Using performance indicators to drive improved service delivery and cost‐effectiveness has been a recognized management technique in the public sector for many years. Most managers are now convinced of the possible benefits, at least in theory. Reality, though, is much less encouraging. Partial coverage, poor implementation and unrealized expectations are still the norm. Yet the potential for radical improvement by making the most of performance measurement is even greater than most people would believe. The question is how to unlock this potential.     

IPO回暖

2011年,由于全球资本市场波动,以及若干欧洲国家发生主权债务危机,中国企业在全球的首次公开募股(IPO)受到影响。2011年前两季度IPO活动还十分频繁,但从年中开始,却大幅减少。根据《安永     

NHS purchasing and the supply council

The Defence budget is over‐stretched. The scope for greater efficiency is large, but only radical and unpalatable action ‐ possibly at the expense of the UK defence‐industry ‐ can produce enough savings in existing programmes.     

Complexity and contradiction in NHS computing

The National Health Service (NHS) has entered a new world of managed competition, where the purchasing and provision of services are formally separated. Accompanying the changes are major investments in computer systems, which will continue for at least the first half of the 1990s. However, the performance of the NHS in implementing computer systems has been variable, so that now is an appropriate time to review the current status of NHS computing, and to consider the key issues for computing in the new environment.     

Developing Primary Care Groups in the New NHS: Towards Diversity or Uniformity?

This article examines how the Government's 'third way' is being implemented in relation to the involvement of primary care professionals in the commissioning of health services. Prior to 1997, the single preferred model of GP fundholding evolved into a diversity of approaches to commissioning and these approaches became increasingly collaborative rather than competitive. From this starting point, the authors examine the key assumptions underlying the present single model of the primary care group (PCG) as the commissioning body for the 'New NHS'. They suggest that PCGs will also evolve into a diversity of models, but there will be tensions arising over the greater emphasis on central direction and performance management.     

Perceptions of Stakeholding: The Case of an NHS Trust

This article considers the significance of stakeholding for an NHS trust. The trust concerned was confronted with significant changes in its environment which posed a threat to its services and, therefore, its contract income. The trust appeared to be in a vulnerable position because it had not given adequate consideration to its relationship with its stakeholders. To establish where the trust needed to improve relations with stakeholders, the article adopts a model drawn from Johnson and Scholes (1993) and presents an analysis of the view of key individuals through the use of structured interviews.     

Appraising and Evaluating PFI for NHS Hospitals

This paper explores the use of appraisal in the development of proposals to use private finance to provide acute hospitals under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). It addresses the extent to which value for money (VFM) and affordability (which must be satisfied to enable a scheme to be approved) are demonstrated in the documents prepared by hospital Trusts. It identifies a number of issues (such as the transfer of risk and the development of public sector comparators) that pose new problems for investment appraisal, which are specific to its application to PFI.     

The Attitudes of NHS Clinicians and Medical Managers Towards Changes in Accounting Controls

Clinical directors and medical managers expected accounting information would assume high importance for institutional control as a consequence of NHS reforms. However, clinical directors were not comfortable with the symbolism of formal accounting controls. Their individual understanding of accounting information varied, but was modest overall. Medical managers were more inclined to accept and respond to financial controls. However, acceptance and response was frustrated for all users by inaccuracy and lateness of accounting reports. Cost savings were prompted more by established professional attitudes than in response to accounting reports. Non-financial controls remained the dominant mode of operational control.