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 " ...
in
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 En ...
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 ...
, in reality one NHS was created for England and Wales accountable to the
Secretary of State for Health, 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 ...
accountable to the
Secretary of State for Scotland by the passage of the
National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947. 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The whole Act was replaced by the National Health Service Act 1977, which itself is now superseded by the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 and the
Health and Social Care Act 2012.
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 boards 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 committees, 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 te ...
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 committee
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
s 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 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 were transferred to the minister.
Further reading
Image of the Act on the Parliamentary website
See also
*
National Insurance Act 1911
The National Insurance Act 1911 created National Insurance, originally a system of health insurance for industrial workers in Great Britain based on contributions from employers, the government, and the workers themselves. It was one of the foun ...
*
History of the National Health Service
*
National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947
*
National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990
*
National Health Service Act 2006
*
United Kingdom enterprise law
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