Publisher's Synopsis
This is a commentary on the first years of NHS reform, from a health insider with a patient's perspective.;John Spiers addresses the key issues of social consent, patient power and the challenges of determining what is clincally effective. He offers discomforting and constructive perspectives for managing change. He argues for both policy and practice to be science-based, open, cost-effective and based on standards set in close consultation with patients. Power, he asserts, must be passed to the consumer wherever possible. This work proposes further ways in which this can be achieved, especially by giving patients influence on how much money is spent.;Spiers' concepts of "the invisible hospital" - which patients experience but managers often do not see - and the "secret garden" - the mystique of medicine which limits necessary change - develope the debate on fundamental cultural issues.
