HC Deb 27 June 1972 vol 839 cc299-300W
Mrs. Fenner

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he can now say what the boundaries of the area and regional health authorities will be in the reorganised health service; and whether he will make a statement.

Sir K. Joseph

I envisage no departure from the principle stated in the consultative document on National Health Service reorganisation that outside London the boundaries of the area health authorities should be the same as those of the new non-metropolitan counties and metropolitan districts. Consideration of the boundaries within London is not yet completed. The regional health authorities will be responsible for the groups of health areas outside London shown below.

I shall issue guidance on the management arrangements that should apply where health catchment areas overlap the new boundaries when I have received the advice of the current National Health Service management study later in the year. Administrative boundaries will not be allowed to restrict the present freedom of patients to go to the general practitioner of their choice and the most appropriate hospital.

  • Region 1: The countries of Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland, Teesside and the metropolitan districts in Tyneside.
  • Region 2: The counties of Humberside, North Yorkshire and the metropolitan districts in West Yorkshire.
  • Region 3: The counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottingham shire and the metropolitan districts in South Yorkshire.
  • Region 4: The counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
  • Region 5: The counties of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.*
  • Region 6: The county of Essex.*
  • Region 7: The counties of East Sussex and Kent.*
  • Region 8: The counties of Surrey and West Sussex.*
  • Region 9: The counties of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire.
  • Region 10: The counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire.
  • Region 11: The counties of Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire and Somerset.
  • Region 12: The counties of Hereford and Worcester, Salop, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and the metropolitan districts in West Midlands.
  • Region 13: The county of Cheshire and the metropolitan districts in Merseyside.
  • Region 14: The county of Lancashire and the metropolitan districts in Greater Manchester.

*These regions will also include London areas.