Community Health Council

Community Health Councils were established in 1974 to provide a voice for patients and the public in the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales.

They were abolished in 2003 in England as part of the NHS Plan announced in July 2003. Unlike the other proposals in the Plan there was no preceding discussion about this move, nor any clear explanation for this decision, which aroused considerable unhappiness amongst the staff and members. In England a new structure, Patient and Public Involvement Forums, was established in 2003.