Making markets work: a seminar on competition policy

Although competition within the NHS is not new, the current NHS reforms could extend competition considerably beyond its existing scope of planned hospital care to other services. The Government believes that extending the use of market forces will help NHS services to evolve and develop.

The Health and Social Care Bill 2011 contains plans for a new economic regulator, with powers to promote competition, set prices and ensure continuity of services. The Nuffield Trust is exploring the costs and benefits that this reform will bring, and the challenge it represents for regulation, during a series of seminars.

This event report summarises the discussion that took place in the first of this series, which was conducted in partnership with Monitor. The report explores the evidence base for competition in both health and non-health sectors, and sets out the key challenges that need to be overcome to ensure competition functions in the NHS.

This event report will be of interest to health economists, health policy-makers and NHS commissioners, as well as academics and researchers in the field of health policy and public services.