National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990
Encyclopedia
The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c 19) is a piece of legislation
which governs health care
and social care in the United Kingdom
. It sets out how the National Health Service
should assess and provide for patients based on their needs, requirements and circumstances.
The Act states that it is a duty for local authorities to assess people for social care and support. This is to ensure that people who need community care services or other types of support get the services they are entitled to. Patients have their needs and circumstances assessed and the results determine whether or not care or social services will be provided. This also ensures that the people giving the care follow a certain set of rules called the care value base.
Local authority resources can be taken into account during the assessment process, but if it is deemed that services are required, then those services must be provided by law: services can't be withdrawn at a later date if resources become limited.
The NHS and Community Care Act in 1990 split the role of health authorities and local authorities by changing their internal structure, so that local authority departments assess the needs of the local population and then purchase the necessary services from ‘providers’. To become 'providers' in the internal market, health organisations became NHS trusts, competing with each other. Community care ensures people in need of long-term care are now be able to live either in their own home, with adequate support, or in a residential home setting.
Legislation
Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
which governs health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
and social care in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It sets out how the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
should assess and provide for patients based on their needs, requirements and circumstances.
Contents
The act introduced an internal market into the supply of healthcare making the state an 'enabler' rather than a supplier of health and social care provision.The Act states that it is a duty for local authorities to assess people for social care and support. This is to ensure that people who need community care services or other types of support get the services they are entitled to. Patients have their needs and circumstances assessed and the results determine whether or not care or social services will be provided. This also ensures that the people giving the care follow a certain set of rules called the care value base.
Local authority resources can be taken into account during the assessment process, but if it is deemed that services are required, then those services must be provided by law: services can't be withdrawn at a later date if resources become limited.
The NHS and Community Care Act in 1990 split the role of health authorities and local authorities by changing their internal structure, so that local authority departments assess the needs of the local population and then purchase the necessary services from ‘providers’. To become 'providers' in the internal market, health organisations became NHS trusts, competing with each other. Community care ensures people in need of long-term care are now be able to live either in their own home, with adequate support, or in a residential home setting.
See also
- Care programme approachCare programme approachCare Programme Approach is a United Kingdom system of delivering community services to those with mental illness. It was introduced to England in 1991 and by 1996 become a key component of the mental health system in England...
- National Health Service Act 1977 (c 49)
- National Health Service (Primary Care) Act 1997 (c 46)
- National Health Service Act 2006National Health Service Act 2006The National Health Service Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out the structure of the National Health Service in England.If the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 passes it will be significantly altered....
(c 41)