Summary:

Increasingly, commissioners of NHS services have been encouraged to work with private sector companies such as United Healthcare and Tribal. With the publication of the most recent White Paper 'Liberating the NHS', this trend has gathered momentum. But we know little about the nature of public private collaborations in healthcare, how knowledge between the two parties is exchanged and the benefits of these partnerships.

Dr Wye (and her colleagues from the Schools of Nursing and Management at the University of Southampton, the School of Policy Studies at the University of Bristol and GP and primary care trust commissioners from the NHS) will carry out a 30 month ethnographic study. Methods will include group and individual interviews, shadowing private healthcare consultants and a telephone survey of commissioners. On-going, regular knowledge exchange of key messages between targeted stakeholders and the study team is integral to this project.

The study will begin in January 2011.

Her co-applicants are: (Bristol) Ailsa Cameron, School for Policy Studies; Prof Gene Feder. (Southampton) Prof Catherine Pope, School for Nursing; Dr. Jonathan Klein, School of Management. (freelance) Prof John Gabbay. (NHS) Maya Bimson, Special Projects Director NHS Bristol and Dr. William House, GP and BANES practice based commissioner.