Abstract
The NHS reforms have come to mean all things to all men (and women). Identifying a market oriented purchaser-provider split as the conceptual heart of the reforms is still, however, useful. There are important perverse incentives in and around the NHS that are associated with the reforms; furthermore, many reactions to the resulting problems are paradoxical and often counterproductive. Hitherto most criticism of the reforms from the health policy and management community (as opposed to the professions and the public) has been tactical rather than fundamental. There are serious problems for the NHS associated both with the NHS market and with current, often tacit, strategies for the future of the service.