State policies and public facility location: the hospital services of north east England, 1948 - 1982

Abstract

Despite the importance of public facilities in everyday life, as yet there is little agreement on how a theory of public facility location is to be produced. Following a review and evaluation of previous research, it is argued that public facility location should be analysed within the context of a theory of society and of the state. This in turn necessitates an assessment of alternative theoretical propositions concerning the state. Following this, an account is presented of major developments in the hospital services in the area covered by the Newcastle RHB (Northern RHA from 1974). This account discusses the nature of and reasons for the changing character of state intervention in the British economy since the war, and traces the implications of these changes for spatial aspects of hospital provision. Detailed studies are presented of disputes on local hospital strategy. This material is structured thematically so as to facilitate commenting on the role of the state. A concluding chapter summarises the empirical material, assesses the relative merits of various approaches to theorising the state, and considers the implications of this research for public facility location theory.