NHS Wales

NHS Wales is the official corporate style of the national health service for Wales; it was previously part of the same National Health Service (Welsh: Gwasanaeth Iechyd Genedlaethol) as England but is now devolved.

NHS Wales (Welsh: GIG Cymru) is operated and managed by the Health and Social Care Department of the Welsh Assembly Government. Most people in Wales will have access to a District General Hospital which provides a range of services on an outpatient, inpatient and day case basis. Some of these hospitals also provide specialist services such as burns and plastics and cardiac surgery. NHS Wales also provides community services which includes district nurses, health visitors, midwives and community based speech therapists, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.

Health Boards
Local Health Boards (LHBs) were created in 2003 to replace Health Authorities in Wales. A Welsh NHS Trust will typically administer all hospitals in a region, as well as all community care and mental health functions. There are 12 regional Trusts that cover groups of local authority areas, as well as one further Trust for the Welsh Ambulance Service and another, Velindre, for the operation of nationwide agencies and services.

Wales has one main teaching hospital, the University Hospital of Wales, based in Cardiff.

Other NHS Wales bodies
Another important organisation in the structure is Health Commission Wales. This is an executive agency of the Welsh Assembly Government whose primary role is to centrally organise and fund all Tertiary care and other highly specialist services. It also provides advise and guidance about specialist services to other parts of NHS Wales.

NHS Direct is also available in Wales, with callers being given the option of talking in Welsh or English.