National Health Service

"The NHS has received extra funding, but this has mostly been used to cope with current pressures and has not provided the stable platform intended from which to transform services. Repeated short-term funding-boosts could turn into the new normal, when the public purse may be better served by a long-term funding settlement that provides a stable platform for sustained improvements" - Amyas Morse, Head of the National Audit Office, on 19 January 2018.

The Health and Social Care Act 2012 is an enormous, complex body of legislation. The full text of this Act runs to 473 printed pages. Even the Explanatory Notes cover 200 pages! Fortunately, there is an excellent animated cartoon, commissioned in July 2013 by the King's Fund which explains the whole intricate business in six and a half minutes. Highly recommended!

Leeds City Council now plays a major role in health.

Section 7 in the Health and Social Care Act 2001 requires local authorities to scrutinise health service provision in their area, and to issue reports and recommendations. Councils did not initially provide any health services to the public, but this changed with the passage of the National Health Service Act 2006 which allowed pooling of NHS and Council budgets, and the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 which requires NHS and Councils to produce Joint Strategic Needs Assessments (JSNA) for the Health and Well-being of their local populations. More recently the Health and Social Care Act 2012 established Health and Wellbeing Boards and transfered local responsibility for Public Health from the National Health Service to the relevant local council, including Leeds. This Act came into force on 1 April 2013.

Last updated 16 April 2018 at 15:26. Back to the top