The NHS advisory panel on competition has ruled that NHS hospitals should not bar their consultants from working for private providers of NHS care in their own time

The least well-off have not lost out from the introduction of competition between NHS hospitals and more choice for patients over where they have their operations, research has shown

More evidence: The lives of 300 heart attack patients have been saved every year since competition was introduced to NHS hospitals, according to a new study. In more detail: The updated paper, published in The Economic Journal, looks at the effects of a more liberal NHS on 30-day mortality rates for patients diagnosed with Acute

In interviews with managers and clinicians new research found that rivalry between NHS hospitals provided better management and increased benefits for patients

Most toxic is the role of commercial competition, with Monitor acting as enforcer. By opening every NHS corner to “any qualified provider”, the whole service can be taken over by private companies, with a few token charities and mutuals. NHS hospitals, cherry-picked of lucrative work, risk bankruptcy when left with only complex cases. Stroke care

Lord Carter, founder of Westminster Health Care, is named chair of the NHS's co-operation and competition panel to oversee the introduction of more competition for NHS services

The Healthcare Commission says almost a third of the National Health Service hospitals risk being refused a license despite a big improvement in performance

In an article for The Fraser Institute, we argue the lessons for Canada from the NHS reform programme are less that competition in health care has failed, but rather that market-based health care reforms in the UK have been crippled by the government’s unwillingness to stop directing the service from the centre. The reform programme as a whole has been 'a botched job driven by political...

The British love the NHS and in particular, they love hospitals. When I give a talk about the government's NHS policy I often start by asking people to say what most embodies what they think is "the NHS". It is not GPs; it is always hospitals. Politicians know this and they are careful when it comes to suggesting that a hospital has to be downgraded or even closed. In some cases politicians e...

A depressing milestone was reached last week in the unravelling of the NHS. The regulator of Foundation Trusts announced that over a half of hospitals in England now have ‘foundation status’. The Guardian report is here. We now have 112 hospitals that are still part of the NHS, subject...