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The Private Finance Initiative in the National Health Service: An Unhealthy Development in New Public Management?
Author(s) -
Mayston David J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
financial accountability and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.661
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1468-0408
pISSN - 0267-4424
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0408.00084
Subject(s) - private finance initiative , business , accountability , public sector , context (archaeology) , private sector , public finance , finance , new public management , accounting , public administration , economics , economic growth , political science , paleontology , economy , macroeconomics , law , biology
New Public Management has expanded the role of the private sector in the provision of public services through ‘contracting out’ the supply of many public service inputs to the private sector. This paper examines the case of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which is of increasing importance in extending these inputs to include those of major capital assets, such as hospital buildings. Concerns arise as to whether this process does genuinely increase efficiency and accountability, and over the role of accounting in meeting the new demands being placed upon it, in the context of one of the most sensitive public services, that of health care.