49 Total quality management in accredited New South Wales hospitals: A public/private comparison MARK BARTLETT, DEBORAH HATCHER, AMANDA JOHNSON AND KATHY DIXON Mark Bartlett, Deborah Hatcher, Amanda Johnson and Kathy Dixon are Lecturers in the Faculty of Health, Humanities and Social Ecology at the University of Western Sydney- Hawkesbury. Abstract Analysis of data collected in a 1994–95 survey of accredited New South Wales hospitals examined the adoption of key elements of total quality management practice in the public and private sectors. In a number of areas of practice widely considered to be central to a hospital’s total quality management efforts, there was no statistically significant difference between the two sectors. Where differences existed, total quality management practices more likely to be adopted by public hospitals were limited in their scope and likely to be explained by structural peculiarities. In contrast, private hospitals were more likely to adopt practices more critical to the successful implementation of total quality management. Introduction The imperative to improve quality whilst at the same time reducing costs has forced public and private sector hospitals to re-evaluate their quality programs and manner of operation (Ernst 1994). The re-evaluation has turned the attention of many health care organisations to industrial quality practices, in particular, to total quality management (Arndt & Bigelow 1995). For various reasons, different organisations and authors allocate a variety of terms to the quality improvement philosophy and strategy outlined in this paper.