NHS Scotland



NHS Scotland (sometimes NHSScotland) is the official corporate style of the National Health Service in Scotland.

The National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland is one of the original three national health systems created in the United Kingdom after World War II; it remains a separate body from the other systems although co-ordination and co-operation with the other systems in the UK tends to hide the organisational separation from their users where "cross-border" or emergency care is involved. Healthcare policy and funding is now the responsibility of the Scottish Executive's Health Department. The chief civil servant in the Scottish Executive Health Department is also chief executive of NHS Scotland.

Origins and History
The service was founded by the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947 (since repealed by the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978). This Act did not originate free public health services in Scotland (which had already existed in some form for many years without universal application) but provided a uniform national structure for services which had previously been provided by a combination of local government, charities and private organisations which in general was only free for emergency use. The new system was funded from central taxation and did not generally involve a charge at the time of use for services concerned with existing medical conditions or vaccinations carried out as a matter of general public health requirements; prescription charges were a later introduction in 1951.

Health Boards
Current provision of healthcare is the responsibility of 14 geographically-based local NHS Boards and a number of Special Health Boards. Since April 2004 there are no longer any NHS Trusts in Scotland; instead, the hospitals not managed by Special Health Boards are managed by, and GPs contracted in by, the local NHS Board. Provision of community health care and most mental health care is also the responsibility of local Boards.

Former Health Boards
NHS Argyll and Clyde is now defunct. Its responsibilities were transferred to NHS Highland and NHS Greater Glasgow on 1 April 2006, and these boards are now named NHS Highland and Argyll and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The part of the NHS Argyll and Clyde area which transferred to NHS Highland corresponds approximately to the Argyll and Bute council area.

Special Health Boards
Local Health Boards are supported by a number of non-geographical Special Health Boards (some of which have further publicised subdivisions), including:-


 * NHS Health Scotland (Public health and health education)
 * NHS Quality Improvement Scotland
 * Scottish Ambulance Service(The single public emergency ambulance service in Scotland)
 * The Golden Jubilee National Hospitalis a special NHS Board in Scotland with the purpose of reducing waiting times using a single modern hospital located at Clydebank. It was previously a private sector hospital built at a cost of £180 million, but was bought in 2002 by the Scottish Executive for £37.5 million after it failed to produce a profit despite being established with the help of a subsidy provided by a previous government. (Scottish Parliament Official Report [[20 June] 2002)]
 * The State Hospitals Board for Scotland is responsible for the State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland at Carstairs, which provides high security services for mentally disordered offenders and others who pose a high risk to themselves or others.
 * NHS 24 runs a 24 hour telephone helpline serving Scotland.
 * NHS Education for Scotland (training and e-library)
 * NHS National Services Scotland provides central support services for geographical NHS boards. It was formerly known as the Common Services Agency.

Other divisions
Other subdivisions of the Scottish NHS include:-

Health Protection Scotland (Part of NHS National Services Scotland responsible for health protection)

Central Register
The Central Register keeps records of patients resident in Scotland who have been registered with any of the health systems of the United Kingdom. It is maintained by the Registrar General. Its purposes include keeping GPs' patient lists up to date, the control of new NHS numbers issued in Scotland and assisting with medical research.

Overseeing and Representative Bodies
The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland is an independent statutory body which protects mentally disordered people who are not able to look after their own interests. It is funded through the Scottish Executive Health Department, and follows the same financial framework as the NHS in Scotland.

The Scottish Health Council took over from local Health Councils on 31 March 2005.