The National Health Service Act 1946
c 81
came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the

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 " ...

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

thus being the first implementation of the Beveridge model. Though the title 'National Health Service' implies a single health service for 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 ...

, in reality one NHS was created for England and Wales accountable to the

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 ...

, with a separate NHS created for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

accountable to the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

by the passage of the

National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the National Health Service in Scotland. Though the title 'National Health Service' implies one health service for the United Kingdom, in reality one NHS ...

. Similar health services in Northern Ireland were created by the Northern Ireland Parliament through the Health Services Act (Northern Ireland) 1948. The whole Act was replaced by the National Health Service Act 1977, which itself is now superseded by the

National Health Service Act 2006 The National Health Service Act 2006c 41 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out the structure of the National Health Service in England. It was altered and completely renumbered by the Health and Social Care Act 2012c 7. ...

and the

Health and Social Care Act 2012 The Health and Social Care Act 2012c 7 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for the most extensive reorganisation of the structure of the National Health Service in England to date.''BMJ'', 2011; 342:d408Dr Lansley's Mon ...

Provisions

According to s 1(1), The Act provided for the establishment of a Central Health Services Council with 41 members to advise the minister: the presidents of royal colleges, councillors, and representatives of doctors, dentists, nurses midwives and pharmacists. Hospital services were the responsibility of the minister. Existing voluntary and local authority hospitals were transferred to the NHS.

Regional hospital board In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

s were created on the basis that each region could "conveniently be associated with a university having a school of medicine". Under them were

hospital management committee From the founding of the National Health Service of the United Kingdom in 1948 until the reorganisation in 1974 the hospital management committee was the main instrument of local management. There were originally 377 committees which were answerabl ...

s, to manage individual hospitals or groups of hospitals, other than teaching hospitals, which retained their boards of governors.

County council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

s and

county borough County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent ter ...

s were designated as local health authorities. They were responsible for providing ambulance services, health centres, and for care, including dental care, of expectant and nursing mothers and of children under five. They had responsibility for the supervision of midwives and the provision of health visitors and community nursing. They were also responsible for vaccination of persons against smallpox, and immunisation against diphtheria and other diseases. Executive councils were established to supervise general medical and dental services, pharmaceutical services and supplementary ophthalmic services. Provision was made for the establishment of

local medical committee A local medical committee is a statutory body in the UK. LMCs are recognised by successive NHS Acts as the professional organisation representing individual GPs and GP practices as a whole to the primary care organisation. The NHS Act 1999 extended ...

s, local pharmaceutical committees, ophthalmic services committees and local dental committees to represent the practitioners in each area. The Medical Practices Committee was established to regulate general practitioners. The sale of the goodwill in medical practices was prohibited. The

Dental Estimates Board Dental may refer to: * Dental consonant, in phonetics * Dental Records, an independent UK record label * Dentistry, oral medicine * Teeth See also * * Dental care (disambiguation) * Dentist (disambiguation) * Tooth (disambiguation) A tooth (pl ...

was established

Charges

Most services were to be free, but there were powers to make charges for: * Medical appliances of a more expensive type than the prescribed type (and repairs to appliances) * Privately paying patients * Care of expectant and nursing mothers and of children under five * Aftercare and domestic help * Dental and optical appliances of a more expensive type than the prescribed type * Replacement or repair of any dental or optical appliances if the need arose from lack of care

Mental health

The functions of the

Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency The Board of Control for Lunacy and Mental Deficiency was a body overseeing the treatment of the mentally ill in England and Wales. It was created by the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 to replace the Commissioners in Lunacy, under the Home Office howe ...

were transferred to the minister.

References

Full text of the Act (HTML version) {{reflist United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1946 NHS legislation Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning England and Wales Welfare state in the United Kingdom 1946 in England 1946 in Wales

Provisions

Charges

Mental health

Further reading

See also

References