NHS Wales consultation proposes abolition of internal market
NHS trusts and local health boards in Wales are to receive funding directly from ministers or from a newly created national board, abolishing the internal market in NHS Wales.
In a set of changes to the NHS structure in Wales, which have been put
out to consultation until 25 June 2008, the Welsh Assembly Government
is proposing that a National Health Service Board for Wales be established.
The board
may be a special health authority, a civil service board, or an advisory
board supporting a WAG chief executive.
Other changes include: reducing the number of local health boards in
Wales from 22 to eight, transferring the management and provision of
community services from NHS trusts to local health boards, and revising
the membership of the local health boards and NHS trusts.
Launching the consultation, health minister Edwina Hart said that the
proposed changes were “driven by a desire to have administrative
arrangements for the NHS that are effective in improving services to
patients — and supportive of our collaborative approach to improvement
across the public services. These are not driven by issues of cost. These
proposed changes will be contained within the current finances.”
She added that ending the internal market is part of a wider WAG move
to encourage co-operation rather than competition in delivering public
services, which the proposals seek to drive forward.
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