NHS Strategic Health Authority

NHS Strategic Health Authorities (SHA) are part of the structure of the National Health Service in England. In 2002, the existing NHS Health Authorities (see List of NHS Health Authorities (1996-2002)) were renamed and merged to form the 28 new Strategic Health Authorities. The SHAs have the Board and governance structures common to all NHS Trusts.

On April 12 2006, Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, announced that, following an NHS consultation, which ended on March 22 2006, the SHAs were to be reorganized, reducing to ten in number. This is hoped to produce substantial financial savings.

Each SHA is responsible for enacting the directives and implementing fiscal policy as dictated by the Department of Health at a regional level. In turn each SHA area contains various NHS trusts which take responsibility for running or commissioning local NHS services. The SHA is responsible for strategic supervision of these services.

SHAs after 1st July 2006
The ten SHAs established as of 1 July 2006 are:
 * 1) East of England
 * 2) East Midlands
 * 3) London
 * 4) North East
 * 5) North West
 * 6) South Central
 * 7) South East Coast
 * 8) South West
 * 9) West Midlands
 * 10) Yorkshire and Humber

These Strategic Health Authorities are the same as the Government Office regions of England, except that the large South East England region is divided into two : South Central and South East Coast. .

Types of Trust under the remit of SHAs

 * NHS Hospital Trust
 * NHS Ambulance Services Trust
 * NHS Care Trust
 * NHS Mental Health Services Trust
 * NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT)

Map of SHAs before 2006 reorganization



 * 1) Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA
 * 2) Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA
 * 3) Birmingham and The Black Country SHA (West Midlands minus Coventry)
 * 4) Cheshire and Merseyside SHA
 * 5) County Durham and Tees Valley SHA
 * 6) Cumbria and Lancashire SHA
 * 7) Dorset and Somerset SHA
 * 8) Essex SHA
 * 9) Greater Manchester SHA
 * 10) Hampshire and Isle Of Wight SHA
 * 11) Kent and Medway SHA
 * 12) Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA
 * 13) Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA
 * 14) North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA
 * 15) North Central London SHA
 * 16) North West London SHA
 * 17) North East London SHA
 * 18) Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA
 * 19) Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA
 * 20) South East London SHA
 * 21) South West London SHA
 * 22) South West Peninsula SHA
 * 23) South Yorkshire SHA
 * 24) Surrey and Sussex SHA (Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex)
 * 25) Thames Valley SHA (Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire)
 * 26) Trent SHA (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire)
 * 27) West Midlands South SHA (Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Coventry) †
 * 28) West Yorkshire SHA

† known as the 'Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire SHA until 2004

The London break-up is


 * North Central London - Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington
 * North East London - Barking and Dagenham, City, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest
 * North West London - Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Westminster
 * South East London - Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark
 * South West London - Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Wandsworth, Sutton

These SHAs were all be replaced by a single London SHA in 2006.