Philanthropy and the Hospitals of London

British hospitals and their administration have changed dramatically since the nineteenth century, when the provision of medical care depended very heavily upon philanthropic bodies. The King's Fund was the leading charitable institution for the defence and development of London's voluntary hospitals before the creation of the National Health Service. Since 1948, it has worked alongside the NHS and has sought to promote good practice and innovation in health care through grants, training, and a range of other services. Dr Prochaska's readable and scholarly study places the King's Fund in the wider context of the history of philanthropy and social provision. It provides an illuminating analysis of the evolution of the relationship between the voluntary and public sectors in the twentieth century, and points to the continuing importance of voluntary organizations to the nation's health and welfare.

"Prochaska provides much more than a chronicle of one charitable organization....A readable and weighty-extended argument in defense of the voluntary charitable provision of medical care in Britain."--History: Reviews of New Books
"A broad political and social history of hospital administration from late Victorian times through the 1980s....The book is well organized, prodigiously researched, written with humor and knowledge of hospital administration, and adequately indexed."--Choice
"An extensive and useful bibliography."--The Historian
"Prochaska has produced a stimulating account of developments in modern philanthropy."--Albion
"Prochaska has provided a thorough and generally objective account of the fund's history...a sound contribution to our understanding of the function of organized philanthropy."--Journal of the History of Medicine