14 October, 2007
The joys of the internal market
This is old news, which I have just stumbled across while re-reading old posts in Megacorp Inc's internal company newsgroups, but it deserves a fresh airing in my decidedly flabbered gast.
It transpires that, due to a quirk of the NHS's bizarre internal trading rules, a hospital loses fees if it treats patients too quickly, even when resources are available. To maximize revenue, the hospital must ideally schedule operations for between 4 and 6 months after referral. Later than 6 months and a Government target is missed. But earlier than 4 months and the referring Primary Care Trust does not have to pay.
This is typical of the unintended consequences of "internal trading" structures, and not just in the public services, either.
It transpires that, due to a quirk of the NHS's bizarre internal trading rules, a hospital loses fees if it treats patients too quickly, even when resources are available. To maximize revenue, the hospital must ideally schedule operations for between 4 and 6 months after referral. Later than 6 months and a Government target is missed. But earlier than 4 months and the referring Primary Care Trust does not have to pay.
This is typical of the unintended consequences of "internal trading" structures, and not just in the public services, either.
# posted by Edwin Greenwood @ 13:16 
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"This is typical of the unintended consequences of "internal trading" structures, and not just in the public services, either."
Well it's typical of markets ruled by arbitrary external rules - i.e. not markets.
Can you imagine an actual market operating in this fashion?
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Well it's typical of markets ruled by arbitrary external rules - i.e. not markets.
Can you imagine an actual market operating in this fashion?
# posted by 
: 25 October, 2007 22:36
: 25 October, 2007 22:36 << Home
