List of NHS regional health authorities (before 1996)

From 1974 to 1996 the NHS in England was administered by regional health authorities. The regions closely followed the areas of the previous regional hospital boards established in 1947, but in many cases they were renamed.

Each Region was subdivided into area and district health authorities, whose disposition as at 1991 is listed below.

In 1996 the regional health authorities were reorganised as NHS health authorities.

RHB 1947 -74	RHA 1974 – 94	Area
East Anglian	East Anglian	Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk
Newcastle	Northern	Cleveland, Cumbria, County Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear
North East Metropolitan	North East Thames	Essex, north east London
Manchester	North Western	Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Glossop
North West Metropolitan	North West Thames	Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, north west London, Spelthorne
Liverpool	Mersey	Cheshire and Merseyside
Oxford	Oxford	Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire
South East Metropolitan	South East Thames	Kent, East Sussex, south east London
South West	South Western	Bristol and district, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset
South West Metropolitan	South West Thames	Surrey (less Spelthorne), south west London, West Sussex
Sheffield	Trent	Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire
Wessex (from 1959)	Wessex	Bath, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Wiltshire
Birmingham	West Midlands	Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands
Leeds	Yorkshire	Humberside, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire

An Order in 1994 re-organised these into 8 Regional Health Authorities [1] [2] [3], as follows

• Northern and Yorkshire – Cleveland, north Cumbria, Durham, Humberside, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear and West Yorkshire
• Trent – most of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire
• Anglia and Oxford – Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk
• North Thames – Essex, Hertfordshire, North London
• South Thames (South East Thames & South West Thames) – East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, West Sussex, South London
• South and West (Wessex and South Western) – Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Isles of Scilly, Somerset, Wiltshire
• West Midlands – Hereford and Worcester, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands
• North West (Mersey & North West) – Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, south Cumbria, and Glossop from Derbyshire

Below the regions were area health authorities from 1974 – 1982, and district health authorities from 1974 – 1996.

See also

• List of Area Health Authorities 1974 - 1982
• List of District Health Authorities in England and Wales