Commercial confidentiality: a cloak for policy failure.

The authors look at the policy of the Department of Health in England on confidential commercial data. They cite that the changes made by the department to the British National Health Service (NHS) allow it to avoid scrutiny. They note that the assessments of six commuter walk-in centre pilot programs published within the issue of "British Journal of General Practice" were limited due to a lack of access to contract and patient data. They argue that commercial confidentiality is aimed at concealing the failure of the policy of the department.