The politics of innovation : a critical analysis of the conditions in which innovations in health care may flourish

Innovation and research have been key features throughout the sixty years the UK has publicly funded a National Health Service. Over the last thirty years, in planning health service reforms, successive Governments have drawn on the values of the private sector, where innovation is considered an imperative If firms are to survive in the global market place. Consequently, the innovation imperative is now at the heart of UK health policy