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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Posted Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:11:20 This message was forwarded through MEDSOCNEWS. If you wish to make an announcement or publicise an event then please send the text to: [log in to unmask] +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ British Sociological Association *London Medical Sociology Group Meeting* *Wednesday 8th March 6pm* *Managing the 'enterprise' of primary care? Neo-liberalism and NHS LIFT* *Rachel Aldred (Goldsmiths College)* *Venue* King's College London Franklin Wilkins Building Room 1.16 Stamford Street London SE1 8WA nearest train/tube station: Waterloo *Abstract* This paper will build on my case study research to draw conclusions about the nature of neoliberalism and the sources of its power. Has there been a successful ‘culture change’ within local NHS organisations, accepting marketised rationalities and logics? To what extent are local NHS managers convinced by neoliberal discourses, and do these discourses help them to manage staff and patients? Beginning with an overview of changing power relations in the NHS over the past sixty years, I will move on to discuss the significance of my case study material, which involves NHS LIFT (a public-private partnership to modernise primary care premises). This section of the talk will also compare neoliberal discourse about the private sector in the NHS with local experiences of implementing NHS LIFT. One prominent theme in my data has been the development of closed networks inhibiting dissent. GPs feel that they are kept in the dark about developments, and Patients’ Forums seem to be even more marginalised. Chains of communication have either been broken or are organised so as to run in only one direction: downwards. While neoliberal discourse appears smooth and powerful, when used in practice it seems to generate contradictions. For example, the government has talked of encouraging entrepreneurial GPs, yet the LIFT initiative shifts ownership of primary care buildings from GPs (and from the public sector) to large international corporations. Such fissures in neoliberal discourse are likely to create new legitimation crises: I will conclude by examining state and private sector strategies to prevent these. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. ********************************************************************** 1. For general enquires or problems with the list or to CHANGE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS send a message to: [log in to unmask] 2. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: set medsocnews nomail 3. To resume email from the list, send the following message: set medsocnews mail 4. To leave MedSocNews, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message (leave the subject line blank and do not include a signature): leave medsocnews 5. To join or subscribe to MedSocNews, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message (leave the subject line blank and do not include a signature): SUBSCRIBE medsocnews firstname lastname 6. Further information about the medsocnews discussion list (including list archive and how to subscribe to or leave the list) can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medsocnews.html **********************************************************************