The Systems Model of Policy-Making and the National Health Service

In: Political studies, Band 25, Heft 3, S. 397-403

Abstract

A theory of National Health Service (NHS) policy making is sought. One possible integrative model is that of systems theory. Applications of this theory to the policy areas identified by R. Klein ('Policy Problems and Policy Perceptions in the National Health Service,' Policy & Politics, 1973, 2), care of the mentally ill & planning of medical manpower, are suggested. This model offers a convincing account of the realities of policy making by the NHS. In Systems Modelling and the National Health Service: A Reply, Rudolf Klein argues that the systems model does not help to answer the question of why particular changes do or do not occur at particular times. Such variation must be explained by attention to the traditional concerns of political science. W. H. Stoddard.