The Cabinet Papers banner

You are here: Cabinet Papers home > Browse by theme > Welfare, social security and self-help > National Health Service reorganisation

National Health Service reorganisation

A chart showing how the yearly planning cycle was to work in the reorganised NHS.

A chart showing how the yearly planning cycle was to work in the reorganised NHS.
©The National Archives

By the early 1960s, it was apparent that the tripartite administrative division of the National Health Service (NHS) - public health, hospitals and general practice - was causing inefficiency in the service.

Related documents

Labour reforms hindered by economic crisis

Cabinet Conclusion 3. Public Expenditure. 28 October 1964 (PDF, 1.052 MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Proposals for Expenditure: an Increase in Social Security Benefits. Memorandum by the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance. 28 October 1964 (PDF, 1.077MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 5. Social Services. 22 February 1968 (PDF, 3.133MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Social Services: Prescription Charges - Exemptions. Memorandum by the First Secretary of State. 20 February 1968 (PDF, 0.488MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Local Government: Organisation and Functions. Need for a Radical Review. Memorandum by the Minister of Housing and Local Government. 21 January 1966 (PDF, 1.806MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Local Government Reorganisation. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Wales. 21 January 1966 (PDF, 0.467MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Royal Commissions on Local Government: Terms of Reference and Organisation. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Scotland and the Minister of Housing and Local Government. 3 May 1966 (PDF, 0.542MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 3. Social Services. 18 July 1968 (PDF, 1.904MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Memorandum by the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Education and Science, the Minister of Housing and Local Government and the Minister of Health. (PDF, 1.926MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 4. Health. 9 July 1968 (PDF, 1.901MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Administrative Structure of the Medical and Related Services in England and Wales. Memorandum by the Minister of Health. 1 July 1968 (PDF, 7.123MB)

Department of Health and Social Security

Cabinet Conclusion 5. Reorganisation of the National Health Service. 15 January 1970 (PDF, 2.401MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 1. Reorganisation of the National Health Service. 20 January 1970 (PDF, 2.014MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Reorganisation of the National Health Service. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Social Services. 13 January 1970 (PDF, 2.087MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Reorganisation of the National Health Service. Memorandum by the Chief Secretary, Treasury. 13 January 1970 (PDF, 0.433MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Reorganisation of the National Health Service. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Scotland. 13 January 1970 (PDF, 0.357MB)

National Health Service Reorganisation Act of July 1973

Cabinet Conclusion 8. Reorganisation of the National Health Service. 20 July 1972 (PDF, 2.442MB)

Cabinet Conclusion 3. National Health Reorganisation Bill. 8 March 1973 (PDF, 3.551MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. National Health Service Reorganisation. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Social Services. 12 July 1972 (PDF, 14.432MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Reorganisation of the National Health Service in Wales. Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Wales. 14 July 1972 (PDF, 4.641MB)

Cabinet Memorandum. Democracy in the National Health Service. Note by the Secretary of State for Social Services. 21 May 1974 (PDF, 2.127MB)

Search using Seebohm Committee Regional Health Councils

Further reading

Levitt, R., The Reorganised National Health Service. (London: Croom Helm, 1976)
Webster, C., The National Health Service: A Political History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)
Lowe's, R., 3rd ed., The Welfare State in Britain (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)
Timmins, N., 2nd ed., The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State (London: HarperCollins, 2001)

Content

National Health Service reorganisation
Reform and administrative weakness
Structural reorganisation and policy

Related Links

Government who's who

Print this page content

The National Archives

Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 4DU
Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444