Styles of Planning Health Services: The United States, Sweden, and England

Abstract

Conscious planning of health services is being regarded as a necessity in western countries in order to contain costs, provide rational delivery systems, and assure equal access. Brief case studies of styles of planning for health services in the United States, Sweden, and Great Britain are presented in this paper. It is contended that since there are very few scientifically verified criteria regarding adequacy of personnel and facilities, proper volume of use of services, and how much health services should cost, conscious planning becomes at best arbitrary. Types of personnel and facilities are quite uniform in all countries determined by technologic imperatives. There are, however, differences in health services organization and systems, sources and amounts of funding, ratio of personnel and facilities to population, and use of services. It is, therefore, suggested that varying organizations, structures, and use result from differing social and political contexts, both historical and current. The health services of each country are a reflection of their problem-solving styles. The open-ended nature of health services precludes a standardized health services system from country to country, analogous to airports.