National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973
National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973
1973 CHAPTER 32
An Act to make further provision with respect to the national health service in England and Wales and amendments of the enactments relating to the national health service in Scotland; and for purposes connected with those matters.
[5th July 1973]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Administration
Functions of Secretary of State
1 Reorganisation of national health service.
1. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to arrange for the reorganisation in accordance with this Act of the national health service established in pursuance of section 1 of the National Health Service Act 1946.
2 General powers and duties of Secretary of State to provide services.
(1) Without prejudice to his powers apart from this subsection, the Secretary of State shall have power—
(a ) to provide such services as he considers appropriate for the purpose of discharging any duty imposed on him by the Health Service Acts; and
(b ) to do any other thing whatsoever which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the discharge of such a duty.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to provide throughout England and Wales, to such extent as he considers necessary to meet all reasonable requirements,—
(a ) hospital accommodation;
(b ) other accommodation for the purpose of any service provided under the Health Service Acts;
(c ) medical, dental, nursing and ambulance services;
(d ) such other facilities for the care of expectant and nursing mothers and young children as he considers are appropriate as part of the health service;
(e ) such facilities for the prevention of illness, the care of persons suffering from illness and the after-care of persons who have suffered from illness as he considers are appropriate as part of the health service in place of arrangements of a kind which immediately before the passing of this Act it was the function of local health authorities to make in pursuance of section 12 of the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968 ;
(f ) such other services as are required for the diagnosis and treatment of illness;
and regulations may provide for the making and recovery of charges in respect of facilities designated by the regulations as facilities provided in pursuance of paragraph (d ) or (e ) of this subsection.
(3) The functions exercisable by local health authorities and the Greater London Council by virtue of sections 21 and 24 to 27 of the principal Act and sections 10 and 11 of the said Act of 1968 (which relate to the provision of certain health services by those bodies) shall cease to be exercisable by those bodies; but nothing in this section affects the provisions of Part IV of the principal Act (which relates to arrangements with practitioners for the provision of medical, dental, ophthalmic and pharmaceutical services).
3 Medical and dental service for pupils.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to make provision for the medical and dental inspection at appropriate intervals of pupils in attendance at schools maintained by local education authorities and for the medical and dental treatment of such pupils.
(2) Without prejudice to the powers of the Secretary of State apart from this subsection, he may—
(a ) by arrangement with any local education authority, make provision for any medical or dental inspection or treatment of—
(i) senior pupils in attendance at any educational establishment, other than a school, which is maintained by the authority and at which full-time further education is provided, or
(b ) by arrangement with the proprietor of any educational establishment which is not maintained by a local education authority, make any such provision in respect of junior or senior pupils in attendance at the establishment.
(3) A local education authority shall not make an arrangement in pursuance of the preceding subsection in respect of such an establishment as is mentioned in paragraph (a )(i) of that subsection except by agreement with the governors of the establishment; and an arrangement made in pursuance of paragraph (b ) of the preceding subsection may include provision for the making of payments by the proprietor in question.
(4) It shall be the duty of the local education authorities by which schools (other than voluntary schools) are maintained and of the managers or governors of voluntary schools to make available to the Secretary of State such accommodation as is appropriate for the purpose of assisting him to make such provision as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section for pupils in attendance at the schools.
(5) In this section expressions to which meanings are assigned by section 114(1) of the Education Act 1944 have those meanings.
4 Family planning service.
4. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to make arrangements, to such extent as he considers necessary to meet all reasonable requirements in England and Wales, for the giving of advice on contraception, the medical examination of persons seeking advice on contraception, the treatment of such persons and the supply of contraceptive substances and appliances; and it is hereby declared that the power conferred by section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 1952to provide for the making and recovery of charges includes power to provide for the making and recovery of charges for the supply of any such substances or appliances.
Local administration
5 Regional and Area Health Authorities, Family Practitioner Committees and special health authorities.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to establish by order in accordance with Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act—
(a ) authorities, to be called Regional Health Authorities, for such regions in England as he may by order determine; and
(b ) authorities, to be called either Area Health Authorities or Area Health Authorities (Teaching) in accordance with the following subsection, for such areas in Wales and the said regions as he may by order determine;
and orders determining regions or areas in pursuance of this subsection shall be separate from orders establishing authorities for the regions or areas.
(2) An order establishing an Authority in pursuance of paragraph (b ) of the preceding subsection may provide for it to be called an Area Health Authority (Teaching) if and only if the Secretary of State is satisfied that the Authority is to provide for a university or universities substantial facilities for undergraduate or post-graduate clinical teaching; and where the Secretary of State is satisfied that an Area Health Authority is to provide or is providing such facilities he may provide by order for the Authority to be called an Area Health Authority (Teaching) and where he is satisfied that an Area Health Authority (Teaching) no longer provides such facilities he may provide by order for the Authority to be called an Area Health Authority.
(3) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, before providing that an Authority shall be called or cease to be called an Area Health Authority (Teaching), to consult the university or universities concerned with the facilities in question.
(4) Any reference in the following provisions of this Act to an Area Health Authority includes a reference to an Area Health Authority (Teaching) unless the context otherwise requires.
(5) It shall be the duty of each Area Health Authority to establish for its area, in accordance with Part II of Schedule 1 to this Act, a body which shall be called a Family Practitioner Committee.
(6) If the Secretary of State considers that a special body should be established for the purpose of performing any functions which he may direct the body to perform on his behalf, or on behalf of an Area Health Authority or a Family Practitioner Committee, he may by order establish a body for that purpose and, subject to the provisions of Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act, make such further provision relating to the body as he thinks fit; and a body established in pursuance of this subsection shall, without prejudice to the power conferred by subsection (3) of the following section to allocate a particular name to the body, be called a special health authority.
6 Provisions supplementary to s. 5.
(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to exercise the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) of the preceding section and the following subsection so as to secure—
(a ) that the regions determined in pursuance of those subsections together comprise the whole of England, that the areas so determined together comprise the whole of Wales and those...
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