From Restricted Resources to Ethical Burden-Former Home Care Workers' Reasons for Leaving Their Jobs.

The study examines former home care workers' reasons for leaving their jobs from the perspective of reforms in public services and eldercare policies impacted by New Public Management (NPM) in Finland. Written narratives from former home care workers (n = 39) were collected online and analyzed using thematic content analysis. Former home care workers' reasons for leaving their jobs were connected to four interconnecting themes: mismatch between needs and resources, measurement-driven practices, unbalancing work-life, and ethical burden. These reasons reflected critical changes in the organization of care work and the work environment in older adults' home care. Contradictions between needs, resources, and values lead to ethical dilemmas and push away from the workforce in eldercare. To improve care workers' willingness to remain in the eldercare sector, changes are needed in the resourcing and organization of home care, including managerial support in everyday care work.

New Public Management and hospital efficiency: the case of Norwegian public hospital trusts.

New Public Management-inspired reforms in the Norwegian hospital sector have introduced several features from the private sector into a predominantly public healthcare system. Since the late 1990s, several reforms have been carried out with the intention of improving the utilization of resources. There is, however, limited knowledge about the long-term, and sector-wide effects of these reforms. In this study, using a panel data set of all public hospital trusts spanning nine years, we provide an analysis of the efficiency of hospital trusts using data envelopment analysis (DEA), as well as a Malmquist productivity index. Thereafter we use the efficiency scores as the dependent variable in a second-stage panel data regression analysis. We show that during the period between 2011 and 2019, on average, efficiency has increased over time. Further, in the second-stage analysis, we show that New Public Management features related to incentivization are associated with the level of hospital efficiency. We find no association between degree of competition and efficiency.

Entrepreneurship in care for elderly people with dementias: situated responses to NPM-based healthcare reforms in the Netherlands.

BACKGROUND: Despite the great confidence of Western governments in the principles of New Public Management (NPM) and its ability to stimulate "healthcare entrepreneurship", it is unclear how policies seeking to reform healthcare services provoke such entrepreneurship in individual institutions providing long-term healthcare. This study examines such situated responses in a Dutch nursing home for elderly people suffering from dementias such as Alzheimer's disease. METHODS: A four-year inductive longitudinal single-case study has been conducted. During this time period, the Dutch government imposed various NPM-based healthcare reforms and this study examines how local responses unfolded in the nursing home. Through interviews conducted with managers, administrators and supporting staff, as well as the examination of a large volume of government instructions and internal documents, the paper documents how these reforms resulted in several types of entrepreneurship, which were not all conducive to the healthcare innovations the government aspired to have. RESULTS: The study records three subsequent strategies deployed at the local level: elimination of healthcare services; non-healthcare related collaboration with neighboring institutions; and specialization in specific healthcare niches. These strategies were brought about by specific types of entrepreneurship - two of which were oriented towards the administrative organization rather than healthcare innovations. The study discusses the implications of having multiple variations of entrepreneurship at the local level. CONCLUSION: Governmental policies for healthcare reforms may be more effective, if policymakers change output-based funding systems in recognition of the limited control by providers of long-term healthcare over the progression of clients' mental disease and ultimate passing.

Parklife and the public: 40 years of personalization in the United Kingdom.

This article historicises practices called 'personalization' in the UK. It presents data from interviews with practitioners to show how business leaders, public sector managers, policy analysts, activists and others have crafted their personalizing practices through commercial and governmental work over a 40-year period. These public histories are illuminated by professional biographies, which reveal common interests in the transfer and application of technology, data and data analytics. Yet they also illuminate attempts to reform bureaucracies in public and private sectors alike during the late 20th and early twenty-first century. The article asks how mobility - of professionals and their personalizing practices - has affected the pre-existing contrast between, and separation of, public and private organizations. This article contributes to commentaries on personalization that view it as an essentially private and privatizing process. What remains of such domains once they have been crossed, and from whose perspective? This UK history raises questions for comparative histories of personalization and its synonyms elsewhere.

Health Care Reforms, Power Concentration, and Receding Citizen Participation.

The article highlights several outstanding features of French healthcare reforms in light of New Public Management (NPM). The paper exposes the economic, administrative, and social context of reforms. It investigates horizontal integration, as exemplified by the concentration of power within the Regional Health Organizations, the verticalization of the chain of command, and ensuing conflicts between the French welfare elite and the operating core (eg, the medical profession). Outcomes were below expectations in many areas. The NPM-endorsed fragmentation of public organizations has yet to take root in the French healthcare system. There was little consultation with the medical profession. Physicians' autonomy and patients' rights receded.

Overweight children in rural Norway - public health nurses' possibilities and limitations within national guidelines.

INTRODUCTION: Globally, overweight and obesity are more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent public health nurses in rural areas in Norway feel equipped to tackle the overweight and obesity epidemic within two sets of national guidelines: The National Guidelines for the Standardized Measurement of Height and Weight and The National Guidelines for the Prevention, Identification, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents. These guidelines are inspired by New Public Management (NPM) logic, which emphasises more market orientation within the public sector to obtain a more cost-effective supply of public goods. The focus is on the weighing of schoolchildren, available resources, inter-agency cooperation and the rural context. METHODS: The data were collected using a structured questionnaire among 40 public health nurses working with children in rural areas, as well as qualitative interviews with 25 informants involved in the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity among rural children. RESULTS: The study shows that rural public health nurses worry about the lack of resources for follow-up with children with a body mass index greater than what is characterised as 'normal'. The public health nurses suggested better cooperation between different stakeholders to work around the lack of resources and at the same time be able to see the whole picture, considering that overweight and obesity are complex problems connected to different challenges. They believed that it is an advantage to see the individuals in their local surroundings, to know their family history, their leisure activities and so on. This might be easier in rural areas than in urban areas, as these areas are often more transparent. CONCLUSION: There was consensus among the public health nurses involved in this study that national guidelines for treating overweight and obesity in children with the principles of NPM, and simplifying and standardising services, adds challenges instead of solutions. Such practices also hinder the use of experience-based knowledge about both the individual and the local context. There is a need for more flexible guidelines that can easily be adapted to the local (rural) context.

COVID-19 and child welfare policy in Chile: The experience of front-line workers.

COVID-19 arrived in Chile amid social protests that questioned the State's ability to protect children's rights. Nevertheless, child policy workers continued working despite the drastic changes to their daily work generated by both the pandemic and conflicts within the child welfare system. In this article, we aim to understand how these workers have experienced and overcome these challenges. We show that they have continued doing interventions with children at the expense of their economic resources and well-being. Our findings highlight the need for the government to take immediate action, offering guidelines to improve child policy workers' labor conditions.

´You are not yourself anymore´: The place of the ethical demand in a practical home care context.

THE STUDY'S RATIONALE: The Scandinavian nursing tradition is based on caring science as the ontological backdrop. This means that meeting the patient with openness and respect is essential in care. The experiences of an elderly woman receiving home nursing provide insight into a world many healthcare workers need to understand; meaning what is important in the encounter with the fragile old patient whose voice is not often heard in the society nor in research. Caring science with its person-oriented care clashes with the New Public Management's ideal for municipal health care in Norway, at the expense of the needs of the elderly patients. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This article aims to express the phenomenon of lived experience as presented by an elderly woman, more specifically her experience of care in home nursing run according to the principles of new public management. METHODOLOGICAL DESIGN: The article is based on an empirical narrative in the form of an individual qualitative research interview. FINDINGS: The patient has needs that cannot be defined without the nurse having an ethical understanding of what may be important in the patient´s lifeworld. The core findings are: Feeling disregarded as a human being, Broken agreements, Surrendering in anonymous relationships and Each day is a different day with altered needs. CONCLUSION: The system of New Public Management sets a strain on the time at hand for the nurse to develop a relationship that acknowledges and supports the patient´s life courage. The ethical demand and care ethics can explain how the patient´s will to live can be preserved, and provide knowledge of how the caregiver can best attend to the patient's ways of expressing what is important to her. Nevertheless, within the time at disposal, the nurse has an opportunity to either marginalize or strengthen the old person´s dignity.

Algemas manageriales: Análise da avaliação do acesso e melhoria da qualidade em saúde no Brasil

Resumo: Este trabalho indaga o caráter avaliativo do Programa Nacional de Melhoria do Acesso e Qualidade da Atenção Básica na Atenção Primaria à Saúde no Brasil, a partir do caráter performativo deste instrumento no cenário mundial de crescente managerialização das políticas sanitárias. Objetivo: Compreender como a qualidade do acesso se define em termos práticos e quais ações são promovidas aos trabalhadores da Atenção Primaria à Saúde através da Portaria 1.645 e o Instrumento de Avaliação aplicado aos profissionais do Núcleo Ampliado de Saúde da Família e Atenção Básica. Métodos: Foi realizada uma Análise Pragmática do Discurso, com auxílio dos Softwares Atlas.ti 8 e Microsoft Excel 2010. Resultados: Os resultados revelam estândares e indicadores promovidos pelo Programa Nacional de Melhoria do Acesso e Qualidade da Atenção Básica, assim como o papel ambivalente de gestores e profissionais da saúde, entre seu caráter voluntário e proativo e, revelam o desmonte do modelo de Atenção Primária à Saúde sob lógica comunitária no Brasil, em comparação à abordagem do Novo Management Público e a atuação em função de indicadores. Conclusões: O papel do Estado na garantia de direito a saúde é minimizado e dá lugar ao Novo Management Público na saúde.

Resumen: Este trabajo cuestiona el carácter evaluativo del Programa Nacional para la Mejora del Acceso y la Calidad de la Atención Primaria en la Atención Primaria de Salud en Brasil, a partir del carácter performativo de este instrumento en el escenario mundial de creciente managerialización de las políticas sanitarias. Objetivo: Comprender cómo se define la calidad del acceso en términos prácticos y qué acciones se promueven a los trabajadores de Atención Primaria de Salud a través de la Ordenanza 1.645 y el Instrumento de Evaluación aplicado a los profesionales de Núcleo Ampliado de Saúde da Família e Atenção Básica. Métodos: Se realizó un Análisis Pragmático del Discurso, con la ayuda de Softwares Atlas.ti 8 y Microsoft Excel 2010. Resultados: Los resultados revelan estándares e indicadores promovidos por el Programa Nacional para la Mejora del Acceso y la Calidad de la Atención Primaria, así como el papel ambivalente de los gerentes y profesionales de la salud, entre su carácter voluntario y proactivo y revelan el desmantelamiento del modelo de Atención Primaria de Salud bajo lógica comunitaria en Brasil, en comparación con el enfoque del Nuevo Management Público y el desempeño en función de los indicadores. Conclusiones: Se minimiza el papel del Estado en la garantía del derecho a la salud y se da paso al Nuevo Management Público en la salud.

Abstract: This paper questions the evaluative process of the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care in Primary Health Care in Brazil, based on the performative character of this instrument in the world scenario of increasing management of health policies. Objective: To understand how the quality of access is defined in practical terms and what actions are promoted to Primary Health Care workers through Ordinance 1,645 and the Evaluation Instrument applied to Extended Centers for Family Health and Primary Care professionals. Methods: A Pragmatic Discourse Analysis was performed, with the help of Atlas.ti 8 and Microsoft Excel 2010 Software. Results: The results reveal standards and indicators promoted by the National Program for Improving Access and Quality of Primary Care, as well as the ambivalent role of managers and health professionals, between their voluntary and proactive character and reveal the dismantling of the Primary Health Care model under community logic in Brazil, compared to the New Public Management approach and the performance in function of indicators. Conclusions: The role of the State in guaranteeing the right to health is minimized and gives way to New Public Management in healthcare.

Political alignment and project funding.

We analyze the relationship between the party affiliation of politicians at different levels of government and the spatial distribution of funding for research, development and innovation projects. In particular, we are investigating whether more federal grants are being granted in Germany for projects in federal states whose government is led by the same political party as the responsible ministry at federal level. Our dataset contains detailed information on publicly funded projects in Germany in the period 2010-2019. Using a fixed-effects estimation approach, we find a link between grant allocation and party affiliation of funding for research, development and innovation projects, in particular smaller ones. For these projects, political alignment is associated with an average increase in public funding by almost 10,000 euro. Our results suggest that public funds for research, development and innovation projects could be used more efficiently than they are.

Genericism and managerialism: The limits to AMHP professionalisation and expertise.

The Mental Health Act as amended 2007 democratised who could qualify for the Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) role to include not only social workers, but psychologists, occupational therapists, and nurses. The amendments raised questions on how to appropriately train AMHPs from the professional groups without social work education to have adequate skills and decision-making capacity when considering the use of compulsory powers. Essential to the AMHP role is the obligation to 'bear in mind the social perspective', which incorporates the social dimensions to a persons mental health presentation and is considered a safeguard against the erroneous detention of service users. However, despite claims to further professionalise AMHPs there has been a difficulty defining what AMHP expertise is. This paper draws upon 'theories of professionalisation' to argue that the genericism movement and the adoption of New Public Management has limited the professionalisation of AMHPs and therefore adequate implementation of 'the social perspective'.

How Can Science and Research Work Well? Toward a Critique of New Public Management Practices in Academia From a Socio-Philosophical Perspective.

While New Public Management practices (NPM) have been adopted in academia and higher education over the past two decades, this paper is investigating their role in a specifically socio-philosophical way: The preeminent question is what organization of science is likely to make science and research work well in the context of a complex society. The starting point is an obvious intuition: that academia would be "economized" by NPM (basically, that something is coming from the outside and is disturbing the inside). Habermas provides a sophisticated theorization for this intuition. In contrast, the thesis advanced here is that we should consider NPM potentially problematic-but not for descending from economics or administration outside academia. It is because NPM often cannot help research and science to function well. In this (rather "essayistic" than strictly deductive) consideration, I will therefore tentatively discuss an alternative approach that takes up critical intuitions while transposing them into a different setting. If we understand science and research as a form of life, a different picture emerges that can still bring immanent standards to bear, but at the same time compose them more broadly. This outlines a socio-philosophical critique of NPM. Accordingly, the decisive factor is not NPM's provenance. What is decisive is that it addresses some organizational problems while at the same time creating new ones. At the end, an outlook is sketched on how the specific situation of NPM allows some hypotheses on academy's [by "academy", I am referring to the whole research community (like "academia")] future organization. Ex negativo, it seems likely that qualitative evaluation criteria and creative freedom will have to play a greater role.

Huellas afectivas del trabajo en política de protección a la infancia / Affectivity in the implementation of child welfare policies / Traços afetivos do trabalho de política de proteção à infância

Resumen (analítico) Chile es un caso emblemático en la instalación de una política de protección a la infancia con orientación neoliberal. Actualmente, esta política es ejecutada casi completamente por organizaciones privadas, financiadas conforme al logro de indicadores de desempeño estandarizados. Algunas investigaciones plantean que estos indica-dores gobiernan la racionalidad de los trabajadores y trabajadoras; empero, estudios internacionales señalan que este tipo de gobernanza no solo es racional, sino también afectiva. A partir de un análisis textuala-fectivo de 14 entrevistas individuales y dos talleres grupales realizados a cinco trabajadoras y un trabajador de distintos organismos colaboradores del Servicio Nacional de Menores, se reporta que este modelo de gestión consume y maquiniza los cuerpos de estas y estos profesionales. No obstante, el afecto es el que hace posible la resistencia.

Abstract (analytical) Chile is an emblematic case in the implementation of a neoliberal child welfare policy. This policy is now almost entirely undertaken by private organizations, financed based on their achievement of standardized performance indicators. Scientific literature suggests that these indicators govern workers' rationality. However, international studies indicate that the effect of indicators is not just rational but also affective. From a textual-affective analysis of 14 interviews and 2 workshops conducted with 5 female workers and 1 male worker from different partner organizations within the Chilean National Service for Minors, participants reported that this management model consumes and mechanizes the work carried out by these professionals. However, it is affectivity that makes resistance possible.

Resumo (analítico) O Chile é um caso emblemático na instalação de uma política neoliberal de proteção à criança. Esta, é hoje quase inteiramente executado por organizações privadas, financiadas de acordo com a obtenção de indicadores de desempenho padronizados. Pesquisas sugerem que estes indicadores governam a racionalidade dos trabalhadores; enquanto estudos internacionais indicam que este governo não é apenas racional, mas também afetivo. A partir de uma análise textual-afetiva de 14 entrevistas e duas oficinas realizadas a cinco trabalhadoras e um trabalhador de diferentes Organizações Colaboradoras do Serviço Nacional de Menores, é relatado que este modelo de gestão consome e mecaniza os órgãos destes profissionais. No entanto, é o afeto que torna possível a resistência.

A comparison of structural features and vulnerability between government and nongovernment alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment providers.

OBJECTIVE: Both public (government-run), and not-for-profit (nongovernment) service providers provide alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment services. Research has rarely studied the structural features of these providers, such as workforce characteristics, procurement arrangements, and funding security. The study reported here sought to document and analyze the differences between these two AOD treatment provider types in Australia. METHODS: The study administered an online survey instrument targeted at managers of AOD treatment sites. The survey comprised three sections: (1) the service (e.g., treatment types); (2) workforce (e.g., total number of staff); and (3) funding and procurement arrangements (e.g., contract length). The study completed a total of 207 site surveys. The studied compared government and nongovernment services on structural features that may create a more or less sustainable or vulnerable service (funding arrangements, payment mechanisms, and contract length). RESULTS: Government providers were more likely to provide medically oriented treatment types such as withdrawal management and pharmacotherapy, whereas nongovernment organization (NGO) providers were more likely to offer rehabilitation. Consistent with this, government services were more likely to employ medical professionals and nurses, indicative of a more medically oriented workforce, while NGO services were more likely to employ AOD workers, youth workers, peer workers, and counselors. Our data illustrate that NGO services were more likely to be subject to competitive tendering and to have shorter contract lengths, compared with government services, and overall to be more structurally vulnerable. CONCLUSION: Despite the reliance on NGOs to provide the majority of specialist care (71% of all treatment episodes in Australia), these services are more vulnerable than their government counterparts. To ensure that a comprehensive suite of treatment services is available, procurement arrangements that support stability and security in nongovernment service providers and government service providers are essential.

A nova gestão pública na saúde no município do Rio de Janeiro compreendida a partir do vínculo de trabalho / New Public Management in Rio de Janeiro municipality's health system understood though employment relationships

O percurso escolhido pelo presente estudo tem como principal objetivo trazer elementos sobre as disputas no campo do trabalho na saúde que se colocam a partir da influência neoliberal no Rio de Janeiro nas gestões de Eduardo Paes (2009-2017) e Marcelo Crivella (2017-2021). Para tanto, este trabalho faz um resgate histórico do neoliberalismo nos anos 90 e de seus fundamentos no que diz respeito à administração pública, com destaque para a Nova Gestão Pública. As diretrizes neoliberais que influenciaram a introdução das Organizações Sociais de Saúde no município carioca e a reforma que acompanhou este marco, afetaram, também, a trajetória das disputas no campo da saúde que antecederam este momento. Objetivando desenhar o cenário no qual a Reforma dos Cuidados em Atenção Primária no Rio de Janeiro se materializou, o presente estudo traz algumas perspectivas sobre financiamento e cobertura, contrastando com Belo Horizonte, capital mineira que historicamente apresentou bons números em cobertura e estabilidade na assistência na atenção primária à saúde, mesmo quando o Rio de Janeiro apresentava menos de 5% de cobertura populacional. Estas discrepâncias interessam ao presente estudo e os resultados encontrados apontam a questão dos vínculos de trabalho como ponto central para explicá-las e para, possivelmente, apontar um caminho que possibilite constância e solidez à atenção primária carioca. Como metodologia, foi realizada revisão da bibliografia de interesse, levantamento de dados de acesso público, bem como importante análise dos marcos legais que balizaram as conjunturas políticas destacadas.

The way chosen by this thesis has as its main objective to bring elements about the dispute in the health work field that arise from the neoliberal influence in Rio de Janeiro through Eduardo Paes (2009-2017) and Marcelo Crivella (2017-2021) administrations. To do so, this work brings a retrospective of neoliberalism in the 90's and of its fundamentals in what concerns public administration, highlighting the New Public Management concept. The neoliberal guidelines which have influenced the introduction of Social Organizations in Rio de Janeiro and the reform that accompanied this mark also affected the trajectory of the disputes in health field that precede this moment. Aiming to delineate the scenario in which the Reform of Primary Health Care in Rio de Janeiro took place, the present study introduces some perspectives about financing and coverage, contrasting it with Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais state that has historically shown high levels of coverage in primary health care and stability in assistance, even when Rio de Janeiro counted with less than 5% of coverage of its population. These discrepancies interest to this study and the results indicate the issue of employment relationships as a key point to explain them and to possibly point out a way that grants constancy and solidity to Rio de Janeiro's primary health care. As methodology, it has been employed literature review, data survey as well as an important analysis of the legal framework that have guided the highlighted public conjunctures.

[Socio-anthropological and ethical issues of the augmented operating theatre]. / Enjeux socio-anthropologiques et éthiques du bloc opératoire augmenté.

The arrival of new technologies in the operating theatre raises questions about surgical practice, in a context of societal changes and hospital reorganisation. These innovations will bring changes to the ethos of the profession and ethical issues will be raised by the increase of the surgeon.

Organizational Context and Healthcare Reforms: What Effect on the Professional Distress of Canadian Social Workers and Social Service Provision?

This study examined the lived experience of Canadian clinical social workers in light of the organizational context in which they work. The literature indicates an alarming rise of occupational psychological distress in social workers, which aligns with the rise of the neoliberal ideology within the Canadian healthcare sector. While we know that organizational constraints and structural reforms affect social worker's workplace well-being, it remains unclear how these changes are represented by front-line practitioners and how they affect the provision of social services in healthcare settings. To deepen our understanding of this issue, we conducted a thematic analysis of thirty semi-directed interviews with social workers currently practicing in three Canadian cities (Ottawa, Moncton and Winnipeg). Discussions of daily work life, responsibilities, autonomy and subjective understandings of the social worker's role revealed which organizational constraints were the most significant in everyday practice and how they relate to their professional identity and mandate. Provincial healthcare reforms were generally found to have negative effects on clinical social workers, whose struggles for recognition were impaired by the fundamentally neoliberal ideologies behind the large-scale restructuring of service provision, themselves at odds with the humanistic principles of social work. Our findings further suggest that structural changes under the New Public Management frame could be detrimental to both the quality of services provided by clinical social workers and their well-being. Overall, this investigation highlights the importance of organizational improvements in the workplace through systemic changes that would concurrently target managerial expectations, resources allocation, autonomy, work-life balance and respect for professional values.

Diversity, Complexity and Ordinality: Mental Health Services Outside the Institutions-Service Users' and Professionals' Experience-Based Practices and Knowledges, and New Public Management.

In conjunction with the dismantling of psychiatric hospitals, social workers have been commissioned to help service users in their daily living in their homes and in the community. The consequences of these changes for experience-based knowledge and practices in their contexts remain relatively unknown. In this study, eighteen service users and the social workers they described as helpful for them were interviewed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using Thematic Analysis. The following themes emerged: "Here, there and everywhere", "Doing, being, becoming", "Talking" and "Order, planning and improvisation" concerning the contradictions service users and professionals mentioned about their practices and the conditions imposed by managerial methods connected to New Public Management. Finally, "Spontaneous planned complexity" was chosen as our overarching theme to characterize the new knowledge and practices which have been developed. The displacement of the place for the encounter and the introduction of non-medicalized professions have allowed community-based practices and thus the co-creation and emergence of new knowledge about the service users as persons and the professionals as qualified professionals. The challenge remains for managers to have trust in their colleagues and not impose rigid rules, schematized methods, and repeated controls.

As predicted by theory: choice and competition in a publicly funded and regulated regional health system yield improved access and cost control.

BACKGROUND: New Public Management (NPM) has been widely used to introduce competition into public healthcare. Results have been mixed, and there has been much controversy about the appropriateness of a private sector-mimicking governance model in a public service. One voice in the debate suggested that rather than discussing whether competition is "good" or "bad" the emphasis should be on exploring the conditions for a successful implementation. METHODS: We report a longitudinal case study of the introduction of patient choice and allowing private providers to enter a publicly funded market. Patients in need of hip or knee replacement surgery are allowed to choose provider, and those are paid a fixed reimbursement for the full care episode (bundled payment). Providers are financially accountable for complications. Data on number of patients, waiting lists and times, costs to the public purchaser, and complications were collected from public registries. Providers were interviewed at three points in time during a nine-year follow-up period. Time-series of the quantitative data were exhibited and the views of actors involved were explored in a thematic analysis of the interviews. RESULTS: The policy goals of improving access to care and care quality while controlling total costs were achieved in a sustained way. Six themes were identified among actors interviewed and those were consistent over time. The design of the patient choice model was accepted, although all providers were discontent with the level of reimbursement. Providers felt that quality, timeliness of service and staff satisfaction had improved. Public and private providers differed in terms of patient-mix and developed different strategies to adjust to the reimbursement system. Private providers were more active in marketing and improving operation room efficiency. All providers intensified cooperation with referring physicians. Close attention was paid to following the rules set by the purchaser. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: The sustained cost control was an effect of bundled payment. What this study shows is that both public and private providers adhere long-term to regulations by a public purchaser that also controls entrance to the market. The compensation was fixed and led to competition on quality, as predicted by theory.

Nursing assistant's perceptions of the good work environment in municipal elderly care in Sweden -a focus group study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to investigate aspects related to difficulty to retain nursing assistants at nursing homes in Sweden related to perceived work environment characteristics. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: To reveal aspects related to difficulty to retain nursing assistants, the paper uses the BIKVA model, sense of coherence and New Public Management (NPM). In total, three focus groups with nursing assistants at three nursing homes are interviewed with corresponding individual interviews with their senior managers and users. The purpose is to analyze the situation from the affected group of nursing assistants. The focus of this study is how nursing assistants discuss related to recruit and retain nursing assistants at nursing homes and elderly care and the response from senior management related to those aspects. FINDINGS: The main conclusions are that nursing assistants consider their job as meaningful, but limited latitude and direct involvement in managing their daily tasks in a continuous communication with management affect negatively. Furthermore and combined with wage levels, aspects related to scheduling, working hours, shift work, split shifts and understaffing generate a burdensome and stressful environment affecting the possibility to retain staff in a negative direction. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The research uses a new approach utilizing the BIKVA model, sense of coherence and NPM. The study shows that central in retaining nursing assistants at nursing homes relates to aspects such as wages, staffing, shift work and split shifts and continuous communication between nursing assistants and management.