Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland
Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland logo
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| Abbreviation | HSC |
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| Type | Publicly funded service |
| Purpose | Administration of the public health and other social care services |
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Region
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Northern Ireland |
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Main organ
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Northern Ireland Executive |
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Parent organisation
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Department of Health |
| Website |
online www |
Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland (HSC) is the designation of the publicly funded service which provides public health and other social care services in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Executive through its Department of Health is responsible for its funding, while the Public Health Agency is the executive agency responsible for the provision of health and social care services across Northern Ireland. It is free of charge to all citizens of Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. For services such as A&E, patients simply walk in, state their name and date of birth, are given treatment and then leave. Patients are unaware of costs incurred by them using the service. It is sometimes called the "NHS", as in England, Scotland and Wales, but differs from the NHS in England and Wales in that it provides not only health care but social care too (the NHS in Scotland also includes social care). In England and Wales, the NHS services only provide health care. Social services are provided by local councils. The Health and Social Care service was created by the Parliament of Northern Ireland in 1948 after the Beveridge Report.
Hospitals in the province were managed by the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority and Hospital Management Committees from 1948 to 1974, and then transferred to four health and social services boards, along with responsibility for social care. The pattern of local government in the Province was of 26 single-tier local authorities which, apart from Belfast, covered small populations ranging from 13,000 to 90,000 and were not considered an adequate base for the provision of personal social services.
The Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 led to a reorganisation of health and social care delivery in Northern Ireland, reducing the number of organisations involved. This Act established the Health and Social Care Board and five Health and Social Care Trusts which are responsible for the delivery of primary, secondary and community health care. The act also established five local commissioning groups which work in parallel with the health and social care trusts.
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