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Discusses the need for reliable research‐based evidence detailing the costs and benefits provided by different operational and strategic structures of renal replacement therapy. Suggests that in choosing the most appropriate form of dialysis the treatment options may be limited for clinical, practical or financial reasons. Proposes that the renal services must support patients in empowering them to make informed choices concerning the dialysis modality which offers them the highest quality of life. Brings into perspective the need for a balance between patients’ quality of life and the financial constraints on the NHS.

Parental satisfaction with paediatric home care has previously been found to be high and the results presented here confirm this finding. This study is unique in that a well defined population from one geographical area was studied before and after the introduction of the new home care service. Referrers included general practitioners, doctors in emergency care and out‐patient clinics, referring children for a wide range of acute conditions. Compared with hospital admission only half the number of adverse effects on children and families were reported by parents. Interest has been increasing in alternative service provision to prevent or reduce paediatric hospital admissions to avoid adverse effects on children and families. This study examined the views of parents experiencing hospital at home compared with hospital referral between 1999 and 2001 across the whole spectrum of acute clinical conditions. Hospital at home was the preferred service for a wide range of illnesses. Parents and carers identified extension of hospital at home to 24‐hour cover as a future preference. Parental preference for paediatric hospital at home for acute illness was confirmed.

Advances in recombinant drug technology will impose pressure for swift action by decision‐makers who may be required to operate on the basis of very limited information. This paper is the by‐product of a recently initiated North Western Regional Health Authority interim procedure designed to give swift consideration to innovations, to provide additional information for decision‐makers and to permit both clinicians and decision‐makers to combine in ensuring that greater rationality is applied to the introduction of drug innovations than might otherwise be the case. It is envisaged that this procedure will be of equal value in other areas where new medicines may have major revenue consequences.

The success of many high‐contact services depends on customers' compliance with providers' instructions. While existing service marketing literature urges increased attention to customer compliance, there is, to date, little research investigating its role of compliance in service settings. Based on social cognitive theory, this study aims to fill this important research gap, developing and testing a model to explore the antecedents and consequences of customer compliance in high‐contact service settings. Service friendship is included as a mediator between the antecedents and compliance. Two control variables, relationship duration and contact frequency, were also included in the model.

A research framework is proposed to suggest the antecedents and consequences of both service friendship and customer compliance. Extant research from various research streams is reviewed, deriving 11 hypotheses. Data collected from customers of high‐contact service industries are examined through structural equation modeling.

Results show that the service provider's social skills, customer orientation, and expertise are positively related to service friendship and customer compliance, which in turn affect customer satisfaction and anticipated future interaction. The control variables are also both positively associated with service friendship and anticipated future interaction.

This research represents an early attempt at explaining what affects customer compliance in high‐contact service settings. Future research directions are discussed, with emphasis on incorporating customer characteristics, service interaction characteristics, and employee viewpoints to better understand service friendship and compliance in different service settings.

Customer compliance is a vital component of high‐contact service interactions between employees and customers. Service managers should encourage the formation of customer compliance in conjunction with service friendship to achieve better service outcomes.

This study represents the first study in the service marketing literature to establish a model that explains the mechanism of customer compliance in general service settings. The addition of two control variables representing relationship quantity also enhances the originality and contribution of this study.

Treating people with alcohol problems can be very expensive. Hospital‐based community focused treatment has been a traditional response. However, treatment for this client group has developed into a very cost effective treatment option. Alcohol is exacting a heavy financial burden upon the limited resources within health care provision (Royal College of Physicians, 2001). The heavy burden placed upon primary care is reflected in the data. General practitioners make the highest number of referrals to the Specialist Alcohol Service (72%). The link to policy is clear with the Welsh Assembly placing greater focus on a condition specific specialist response (Welsh Assembly, 2001). Comparison with patients presenting to a 24‐hour emergency psychiatric assessment service at the district general hospital help define the alcohol service user group. Data confirms that a community‐focused response by specialist community psychiatric nurses is a cost effective and appropriate alternative to hospital admission.

This paper aims to focus on the role of hospital business models by examining the innovative business model of Moheb Hospitals, which have successfully achieved the goal of reducing costs and delivering high-quality health-care services in Iran by encouraging public–private partnership.

This paper is a single case study.

The study results illustrate the hospital’s current business model and its underlying elements. After presenting the findings, this paper is concluded by presenting the standing issues that should also be addressed and how improvements and adjustments can be made.

This study offers new insight to identify and analyze the shortcomings of health-care sector in Iran and introduces new methods to efficiently use current competencies.

This study aims to predict the behavior of donors to give to the health sector compared with other sectors in Shiraz city, South Iran, using the revised theory of planned behavior (TPB).

This was a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study. A standard questionnaire, which comprising 32 items, was used to survey 277 donors affiliated with various charitable associations in the city of Shiraz, South of Iran, in 2018. Participants were selected using stratified sampling and simple random sampling techniques. The authors used a revised TPB, a general model to predict and explain behavior across various types of behaviors and predict behavior based on an individual’s attitudes and beliefs. This model was used to examine the influence of eight social-psychological variables (attitude, perceived behavioral control [PBC], subjective norm, descriptive norm, moral norm, past behavior, intention behavior, self-reported) on an individual’s intention to donate to health sector charity. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0.

The score of all constructs of TPB in the health sector was significantly higher than in the non-health sector (P < 0.001), except for the PBC. This indicates that it does not influence the donors’ behavioral intention in selecting of charitable activity domains (e.g. health and non-health). The constructs of the moral norm, descriptive norm and past behavior in the health sector donors; and the constructs of attitude, moral norms and the variables of the annual income, and work experience in the non-health sector donors were identified as significant predictors of donors’ intention behavior. Moreover, attitude, moral norm, descriptive norm, past behavior, male gender and the annual income were the significant predictors of donors’ intention to give to health charity initiatives.

One of the most important mechanisms to compensate for the shortage of resources of the health system is the use of donors’ participation capacity. However, different donors act differently in selecting charitable activity domains, including the health sector and non-health sector (e.g. school-building donors’ association, house-building donors’ association, city-building donors’ association, library-building donors’ association, etc.). To attract donors’ participation in the health sector, some interventions to change the behavioral intention of donors towards the health sector through constructs of TPB should be taken.