International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Best of Both Worlds; Comment on “(Re) Making the Procrustean Bed? Standardization and Customization as Competing Logics in Healthcare”

Document Type : Commentary

Author
Catherine Needham
Health Services Management Centre, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
10.15171/ijhpm.2017.99
Abstract
This article builds on Mannion and Exworthy’s account of the tensions between standardization and customization within health services to explore why these tensions exist. It highlights the limitations of explanations which root them in an expression of managerialism versus professionalism and suggests that each logic is embedded in a set of ontological, epistemological and moral commitments which are held in tension. At the front line of care delivery, people cannot resolve these tensions but must navigate and negotiate them. The legitimacy of a health system depends on its ability to deliver the ‘best of both worlds’ to citizens, offering the reassurance of sameness and the dignity of difference.
Keywords
Standardization
Customization
Personalization
Phronesis
Subjects
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  2. Price C. Revealed: NHS funding splashed on holidays, games consoles and summer houses. Pulse. September 1, 2015. http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/commissioning-news/revealed-nhs-funding-splashed-on-holidays-games-consoles-and-summer-houses/20010960.article.  
  3. Mansell J, Beadle-Brown J. Person Centred Planning and Person-Centred Action. In: Paul Cambridge P, Carnaby S, eds. Person Centred Planning and Care Management With People With Learning Disabilities. London: Jessica Kingsley; 2005:19.
International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 7, Issue 4
2018
Pages 356-358

  • Received Date 16 June 2017
  • Revised Date 16 August 2017
  • Accepted Date 09 August 2017
  • First Published Date 01 April 2018
  • Published Date 01 April 2018