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‘A potential fifth column’: conflicts and struggles for control in the context of local NHS privatization

University of East London, UK, R.E.Aldred{at}uel.ac.uk

This article uses case study data to discuss how a new procurement policy (Local Improvement Finance Trust, or LIFT) in English primary care may affect general practitioners’ control over their work. LIFT, a series of 51 public—private partnerships, will enable over the medium term a shift towards the corporate ownership of surgeries and the creation of polyclinics or ‘onestop-shops’. In this article, I explore the struggles over work autonomy and control within these new LIFT structures, as expressed by clinicians and managers in meetings and in research interviews. More generally, I consider how the findings inform debates over the changing position of professionals within increasingly financialized ‘local health economies’.

Key Words: autonomy • corporatization • general practitioners • primary care • privatization • professionalism

Health:, Vol. 13, No. 5, 543-561 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1363459308336797


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