The National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. The purpose of the Act was to reorganise 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 " ...

. This was the first time the service had been reorganised since it was established in 1948. The Act also established the posts of Health Service Commissioner for England and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Separate legislation was passed establishing the post in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The provisions of the Act relating to the Health Service Commissioners have largely been replaced by the

Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 The Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act consolidated previous legislation governing the posts of Health Service Commissioner for England, Scotland and Wales. The three posts were fo ...

. The National Health Service had been excluded from the remit of the

Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) comprises the offices of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (PCA) and the Health Service Commissioner for England (HSC). The Ombudsman is responsible for considering complaints ...

when the

Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 The Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It established the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Parliamentary Ombudsman). The Ombudsman is responsible for investigating ...

became law. The impetus for the establishment of a Health Ombudsman arose from growing dissatisfaction with the quality of service in the NHS through the 1960s. This was encapsulated by scandals about the care provided to the elderly and mentally ill at Ely Hospital in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Farleigh Hospital in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and

Whittingham Hospital Whittingham Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in the parish of Whittingham, near Preston, Lancashire, England. The hospital opened in 1873 as the Fourth Lancashire County Asylum and grew to be the largest mental hospital in Britain, and pionee ...

near Preston. Hospitals were free to determine their own complaints procedures for the investigation of complaints, subject only to guidance by the Ministry of Health. The Davies Report, published in 1973, criticised the complaints system then in place. The Government announced in 1972 that it intended to establish a Health Service Ombudsman and that this was to be at the apex of the NHS complaints system. Provisions establishing the posts were not extensively discussed in debate in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, indicating the consensus around their establishment. The Act was introduced by a Conservative administration which had been in power since 1970. The Labour party returned to power in 1974 and implemented the planned reorganization of the health service.

References

{{PHSO United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1973 NHS legislation