MANAGING HEALTH AND FINANCE - CONFLICT OR CONGRUENCE

National Health Service trusts are required to report publicly on two distinct aspects of their activities: finance and patient care. Financ ial information is included in an annual report and accounts, while pa tient care performance is released in league tables as part of the Pat ient's Charter This article discusses the background to the different measures and reports managerial reactions to them. It reports on a com parison of the results of a sample of NHS trusts in these two separate fields, which found no correspondence between financial and patient c are performance. This finding is used to illuminate the role of such i nformation in the process of accountability, drawing comparisons with the private sector.