Health Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Health Policy - Essay Example Despite the fact that the National Health Service was initially designed to be entirely financed through public taxation, changes began taking place in 1952 when prescription charges of  £ 1 for ordinary dental treatment were introduced (NHS, 2011). The charges were however abolished in 1965, only to be reintroduced in 1968. The first restructuring took place in 1974 when fourteen Regional Health Authorities, and nineteen new Area Health Authorities were established (Mercier, 1997). Mercier points out that â€Å"community health care services which had previously been managed by local government were also transferred to the responsibility of the NHS by the 1974 reforms† (1997, pp. 22-23). Further restructuring took place in 1982, when heath costs hugely escalated prompting the Conservative government to change the culture of the National Health Service management, by encouraging the use of nursing homes and private hospitals to patients. For the first time since the introduction of the National Health System, tenders for different tasks were issued to private firms in order to support the health authorities in managing some departments of the health service. However, there was a lot of dissatisfaction with the management style, and this led to the appointment of general managers at all levels of the health service system. An advisory board was also established and various other officials appointed to oversee the affairs of the NHS. Other substantial restructurings and developments have taken place leading to the passing of the Health and Social Care Act in 2012. In 2004, the first NHS foundation trusts were established as autonomous National Health Service providers (Great Britain National Audit Office 2011). A re-launch of the foundation trusts process was announced by the United Kingdom government in July 2010 in a white paper named Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS. After the publication of