This publication is a comprehensive review of health care and policy issues. From 2000, there will be three issues per year. It contains a calendar of events for the months October 1999 to February 2000 as well as discussion of key policy issues. Specific areas dealt with in this issue include: the government's spending pledge and the winter crisis; performance measures; a view from the Treasury on NHS performance; the origins and future of the Performance Assessment Framework; approaches to the use of performance indicators; and accounting for clinical governance.