Labour's move towards greater competition between hospitals where it was allowed may well have helped. Mortality rates for some illnesses appear to have declined faster where patient choice was expanded.

CEP work cited:

• Zack Cooper, Stephen Gibbons, Simon Jones and Alistair McGuire "Does Hospital Competition Save Lives? Evidence From The English NHS Patient Choice Reforms", The Economic Journal 121, no. 554 (August 2011).
• "Reducing crime: more police, more prisons or more pay?", LSE Centre for Economic Performance Policy Analysis (July 2010): 56.

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