Performance indicators in the national health service

Abstract

As the Government continues its attempt to make the NHS a more efficient user of resources, it is likely to place increasing emphasis on performance indicators. But are the indicators the Department of Health & Social Security has put forward likely in practice to promote greater efficiency? Or will they ‐ as has happened in other parts of the public sector when central government has sought to exert greater control ‐merely encourage ‘creative’ management designed to give the impression of improvement but without its substance?