A new mode of organizing in health care? Governmentality and managed networks in cancer services in England

Ewan Ferlie; Gerry Mcgivern; Louise FitzGerald

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.021

A new mode of organizing in health care? Governmentality and managed networks in cancer services in England

Soc Sci Med. 2012 Feb;74(3):340-347. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.021. Epub 2011 Mar 31.

Authors

Ewan Ferlie¹, Gerry Mcgivern², Louise FitzGerald³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Management, Kings College London, 150, Stamford street, London, England SE1 9NH, UK. Electronic address: ewan.ferlie@kcl.ac.uk.
² Department of Management, Kings College London, 150, Stamford street, London, England SE1 9NH, UK. Electronic address: gerry.mcgivern@kcl.ac.uk.
³ Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. Electronic address: louise.fitzgerald@mbs.ac.uk.

PMID: 21501913
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.03.021

Abstract

We explore the argument that a new mode of health care organizing is emerging which moves beyond the established professional dominance versus New Public Management (NPM) debate. We review Foucault's work on 'governmentality', as applied to health care organizations. We specify two specific Foucauldian themes (the power/knowledge nexus in Evidence Based Medicine (EBM); and the technologies of the clinical managerial self) to analyse organizing in the English cancer services field. We introduce two qualitative case studies of Managed Cancer Networks. We suggest their governance can be fruitfully seen through a 'governmentality' lens. We consider implications for developing Foucauldian analysis of health care organizations.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Community Networks / organization & administration*
Delivery of Health Care / organization & administration*
England
Evidence-Based Medicine
Health Services Research
Humans
Neoplasms / therapy*
Qualitative Research
State Medicine / organization & administration*