The NHS: Quasi-market, Quasi-hierarchy and Quasi-network?

Abstract

It has been argued that the British National Health Service (NHS) has moved from a hierarchical and bureaucratic organization to a market and, more recently, towards a network. The authors believe that this view is too simplistic: the three organizational forms have co-existed and continue to do so. It is more accurate to view moves over time as a changing mix between quasi-hierarchies, quasi-markets and quasi-networks.