Control of Health Services

Abstract

A BROADSHEET “The Control of Health Services” issued by P E P (Political and Economic Planning) emphasizes the need for an administrative reorganization of the local public health services, and outlines various proposals which have been made with this object. From an administrative standpoint, public health services are divided into those directly administered by the central government departments, those controlled by local authorities under such supervision and the National Health Insurance Scheme. The central department primarily responsible for the public health services in England is the Ministry of Health, but the supervision of the school medical service is delegated to the Board of Education. The Board of Control, which is the supervising body of the services for mental patients and mental defectives, is responsible to Parliament through the Minister of Health, as is the General Register Office dealing with population statistics. Most of the Minister's powers over public health services in Wales are exercised through the Welsh Board of Health, while in Scotland the Department of Health for Scotland performs much the same functions as the Ministry of Health but controls the medical inspection of school children. The Medical Research Council is under a Committee of the Privy Council, while the Factory Act, including its medical provisions, is administered by the Home Office. The National Health Insurance Joint Committeo co-ordinates the work of the Ministry of Health, the Department of Health for Scotland, the Welsh Board of Health and the Ministry of Labour for Northern Ireland in connexion with National Health Insurance.