Primary care trusts

A primary care trust (PCT) was part of the National Health Service in England from 2001 to 2013. PCTs were largely administrative bodies, responsible for commissioning primary, community and secondary health services from providers. Until 31 May 2011 they also provided community health services directly. Collectively PCTs were responsible for spending around 80 per cent of the total NHS budget. Primary care trusts were abolished on 31 March 2013 as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, with their work taken over by clinical commissioning groups.

In 1997 the incoming Labour Government abolished GP Fundholding. In April 1999 they established 481 primary care groups in England "thereby universalising fundholding while repudiating the concept." Primary and community health services were brought together in a single organisation controlling a unified budget for delivering health care to and improving the health of communities of about 100,000 people. A Primary Care Group was legally speaking a subcommittee of a District health authority. As part of the implementation of the NHS Plan 2000 PCGs were transformed into primary care trusts. 17 trusts were established in April 2000, a further 23 in October 2000, and 124 in April 2001 with a plan that all primary care groups would become trusts by 2004. This was said to be a break with the market culture of the previous government, replacing GP Fundholding with a corporate culture that emphasises partnership and collective responsibility.

PCTs held their own budgets and set their own priorities, within the overriding priorities and budgets set by the relevant strategic health authority, and the Department of Health. They provided funding for general practitioners and medical prescriptions; they also commissioned hospital and mental health services from NHS provider trusts or from the private sector. Many PCTs used the naming style "NHS", followed by the geographical area, to make it easier for local people to understand the management of the NHS locally.

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