In July 1968, the Minister of Health,
Kenneth Robinson, published a
green paper,
Administrative structure of the medical and related services in England and Wales. It proposed creating about 50 single-tier area boards taking responsibility for all health functions in each local government area. It triggered years of debate about the relationship between the NHS, local authorities, and health and social care. In September 1968, the separate ministries of health and of social care merged to form the
Department of Health and Social Security. It ended the
1948 tripartite system of separate provision of hospital services under
regional hospital boards, hospital management committees and boards of governors; family practitioner services under executive councils; and community health services (including health visiting, maternity services, vaccination and ambulance services) under local authorities. These organisations were replaced by one unitary structure of 90
area health authorities (AHAs) answering to 14 regional health authorities (RHAs) and, ultimately, to the
Secretary of State for Social Services. Responsibility for public health was also taken from local authorities and given to the secretary of state, who also took on responsibility for school health. In 1982, the 90 AHAs were replaced by 192
district health authorities (DHAs) under the
Health Services Act 1980, but the RHAs remained. Under the 1980 Act, RHAs retained their responsibilities for monitoring and implementing district plans and financial control but were expected to 'stand back' from the activities of the DHAs. The delegation of authority to
DevoManc on 1 April 2016 was hailed by the editor of the
British Medical Journal as a possible regeneration of regional health authorities. ==List of RHAs==