NHS across the UK
Health and social care are organised and funded by the devolved governments in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Strategic Health Authorities were organisations within the NHS in England that were responsible for developing and improving health services in their local area, ensuring quality, measuring performance and making sure that national priorities were integrated into local plans.
Under the changes to the NHS that came into effect in April 2013, the 10 SHAs and the 152 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), which looked after services at a local level, were replaced by NHS England and more than 200 Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs).
Subsequently, in July 2022 there were further changes to the structure of the NHS in England following recommendations from NHS England and the passing of the Health and Care Act (2022). 42 integrated care systems (ICSs) were established across England and CCGs themselves were abolished.
Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland run their NHS services separately.
