title: Opening the oyster: the 2010-11 NHS reforms in England.
abstract: This opinion paper briefly considers the credibility of the announced rationale behind the current extensive reform of the NHS in light of recent research evidence about performance of the system. The paper outlines the authors' views of the history of the reform, which originates in a set of documents, produced in the late 1980s by the Centre for Policy Studies, which aimed to introduce private sector involvement throughout the NHS, and a brief report by a consultant for a health maintenance organisation in the USA. Tracking of the pro-private sector changes in the NHS demonstrates that the bill is a major step in the implementation of NHS privatisation and also delineates a roadmap for coming developments, which have been explained to corporate providers and investors seeking new profit opportunities but have not yet been debated openly with the electorate in the UK.
authors.affiliation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H. Lucy.Reynolds@lshtm.ac.uk
authors.forename: Lucy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McKee
mesh_terms: D005376:Financial Management / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration; D005544:Forecasting; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000266:history*; D006302:Health Services Research; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017149:Private Sector / Q000458:organization & administration; D011362:Professional Corporations / Q000458:organization & administration; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006113:United Kingdom