National Health Service : the reorganisation of the Health Service in Wales / Welsh Office.

  • Wales Office
Date:
1970
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: National Health Service : the reorganisation of the Health Service in Wales / Welsh Office. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    7/32 page 5
    By THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WALES In July 1968 the then Minister of Health published for general discussion a Green Paper putting forward suggestions for the future administrative structure of the medical and related services in England and Wales. A further Green Paper was published on the 11 February 1970 by the Secretary of State for Social Services containing revised proposals. The second Green Paper applies in terms to England only, but the argument it advances, and the general principles of organisation it proposes, are valid for Wales as for England. There are many reasons for this. The broad objectives for the advancement and improvement of the health service are the same in both countries. The public will expect similar standards and similar procedures for obtaining services, whether in Wales or in England. Further, the professions are organised on an England-Wales basis. However, there are important differences between the two countries. A policy of administrative devolution to Wales is in progress, and it is in keeping with this policy that decisions affecting Wales and the Welsh people should be taken within Wales. Since the 1 April 1969 the Secretary of State for Wales has been responsible for the admini- stration of the Health Service in Wales (and jointly with his colleagues in England and Scotland for health policy as a whole). Wales is a small country, and the Secretary of State and his Department are in close touch with local needs and aspirations. Again, the future organisation of local government in Wales will differ in a number of important respects from the system in England. Finally, the form of organisation at the all-Wales level needs careful con- sideration. No definitive solution can, or should, be proposed until the Commission on the Constitution has reported. This Green Paper describes briefly the existing system in Wales as it has developed over the twenty-two years since the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948. It then sets out the three firm decisions which the Government has taken on the future structure of the health service. First, it has decided for reasons which are given that the health service will not be administered by local government but by area health authorities directly responsible to the central government, and closely associated with local authorities. Secondly, it has decided on the administrative boundary which must as a consequence be drawn between the National Health Service and the public health and personal social services which will continue to be administered by local authorities. Thirdly, it has decided that in general the number and areas of the new health authorities must match those of the larger and stronger local authorities which will result from the reorganisation of local government in England and Wales. This Green Paper then outlines a health service structure for Wales con- sistent with the main principles proposed for England but which takes into account the special circumstances of the Principality. With the exception of the three firm decisions I have mentioned the Government are not yet firmly committed to their proposals for Wales which, together with the proposals
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