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Despite the emergence of national systems of health care provision, in recent years health systems around the world have come under increasing pressure due to the increased demands which have been placed upon them. These pressures arise from a wide range of changes in the physical and social environment and have resulted in the continual search for new organizational structures which it is hoped will be more effective in dealing with the problems which have arisen. The continually changing nature of modern health systems raises a number of important issues for geographers concerned with understanding both the nature of change and its impacts, but also how different health systems have responded to similar problems relating to the organization, funding and delivery of services. In the light of such comments the focus of this chapter is twofold. First, we begin by providing a brief overview of health …