Beyond policy community - The case of the GP fundholding scheme

The paper examines the conception, implementation and abolition of the GP f undholding scheme, all within 10 years, for evidence of a changed style of health care policy-making. A health care policy community, in which the int erests of the medical profession were prominent, existed between 1948 and t he mid-1980s. The paper highlights the important factors in the breakdown o f the policy community and traces the effect through to the negotiation, im plementation and abolition of the GF fundholding scheme. In particular, the role of evidence in health care policy-making has changed significantly. A consequence of the collapse of the policy community has been that a 'folk psychology' rather than evaluative evidence has guided some aspects of heal th care policy since the 1990s.