| Abstract: | Government policy in the UK has been to provide comprehensive personalized health care to the whole population free at the point of delivery. However, the first major attempt to unify and regionalize the service in 1974 left a number of problems, and a further restructuring of the NHS was required. This article reports on the results of research into the 1982 restructuring. The main feature of this second reorganization was the formation of territorial entities called "Districts", and their organizational subdivision into "Units". The kind and level of work and authority assigned to Districts and Units is discussed. An important fading, seemingly counter to official policy, is the existence of small Districts which operate at the same level as Units of the larger Districts. |
