Amid a welter of simultaneous policy initiatives in the UK, health treatment centers were a top-down National Health Service (NHS) innovation that became subverted into a multiplicity of solutions to different local problems. This book is a highly readable account of how and why these centers evolved with completely unforeseen results, revealing clear practical lessons based on UK case-study research involving over 200 interviews. By following the case studies through each key stage of reform, the book tells the story of NHS reform in action. Well-structured and clearly written, it uncovers a range of difficulties and conflicts in pushing forward wide-sweeping reforms at a local level, and it outlines the practical lessons to be learned.

Amid a welter of simultaneous policy initiatives in the UK, health treatment centers were a top-down National Health Service (NHS) innovation that became subverted into a multiplicity of solutions to different local problems. This book is a highly readable account of how and why these centers evolved with completely unforeseen results, revealing clear practical lessons based on UK case-study research involving over 200 interviews. By following the case studies through each key stage of reform, the book tells the story of NHS reform in action. Well-structured and clearly written, it uncovers a range of difficulties and conflicts in pushing forward wide-sweeping reforms at a local level, and it outlines the practical lessons to be learned.