Health Authorities Act 1995

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to abolish Regional Health Authorities, District Health Authorities and Family Health Services Authorities, require the establishment of Health Authorities and make provision in relation to Health Authorities and Special Health Authorities and for connected purposes.
Citation	1995 c. 17
Introduced by	Secretary of State for Health, Virginia Bottomley, 1994 (Commons)
Territorial extent	England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent	28 June 1995
Commencement	from 1 April 1996
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Health Authorities Act 1995 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Health Authorities Act 1995 (c. 17) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reorganised the administration of the National Health Service in England and Wales.

The 1995 Act followed the introduction of an internal market within the NHS under the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990.^[1]

The 1995 Act abolished the regional health authorities (RHAs), district health authorities (DHAs) and family health services authorities (FHSAs) established under the National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 and Health Services Act 1980. The RHAs were replaced by eight regional offices of the NHS Executive, and the functions of the DHAs and FHSAs were effectively merged and taken up by new health authorities.^[2]

These reforms lasted until the next major reorganisation of the NHS under the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002.^[2] The 2002 Act abolished HAs and transferred most of their responsibilities to primary care trusts. It also created a system of strategic health authorities.^[3]