GRAHAM MOON is Professor of Health Services Research and Associate Director of Research at the University of Portsmouth. He has published widely in the areas of health geography and health policy and is editor-in-chief of the journal Health and Place. - NANCY NORTH is Senior Lecturer in Health Policy at the University of Portsmouth. She is co-editor (with Yvonne Bradshaw) of Perspectives in Health Care (1997, Macmillan Press) and her research interests include health care commissioning, consumerism and NHS reform.