The NHS University (NHSU) was a part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

tasked with training NHS staff. It was abolished in 2005. The NHSU was proposed by the Labour Party in the lead up to the 2001 general election, which was followed by a consultation exercise between November 2002 and May 2003. The organisation was launched in December 2003 as a

special health authority A special health authority is a type of NHS body which provide services on behalf of the National Health Service in England. Unlike other types of trust, they operate nationally rather than serve a specific geographical area. They are a type of " ...

. At its launch, its main aims were to improve the training of NHS staff by: # creating and improving opportunities for learning, # creating high quality learning environments, # leading research into future learning needs. The organisation claimed to have made much progress on achieving these aims with the creation of a large number of different training programmes and the setting up of a training helpline for staff called the ''u-i''. However, with the publication of the "''Reconfiguring the Department of Health's arm's length bodies''" report in July 2004, it was decided to reduce the number and size of the Special Health Authorities in order to bring about efficiency savings. On 30 September 2004, the then

Secretary of State for Health The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care. The incumbent ...

, John Reid, announced that the NHSU would be merged with the

NHS Modernisation Agency The NHS Modernisation Agency was an executive agency of the Department of Health in the United Kingdom. It was established in April 2001 to support the National Health Service in England, and its partner organisations, in the task of modernising s ...

to form the new

NHS Institute for Learning, Skills and Innovation The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

, now

NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHS Institute) was a special health authority of the National Health Service in England. It supported "the NHS to transform healthcare for patients and the public by rapidly developing and spread ...

. This merging would allow the cutting of staff from 1,500 to 300 people. The NHSU was officially dissolved on 31 July 2005, with its 23 remaining learning programmes being transferred to the Skills for Health organisation by 29 September 2005. In 2007, following a two-year campaign under the

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public "right of access" to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation ...

, the report written by Sir William Wells, into the NHSU was released. This described the cost of the organisation and management failures.

References

{{reflist
BBC News
- Labour plans NHS university, 22 May 2001.
BBC News
- NHSU axed in

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...

cut, 30 November 2004.

External links

NHSU official websiteReport on the reconfiguration of the Department of Health’s Arms Length BodiesNational Archives record of NHSU Freedom of Information request
Defunct National Health Service organisations