The Reorganisation of the Health Service in Scotland, 1974

Prior to Devolution (1999) it was sometimes suggested that Scotland's particular circumstances allowed it to be innovative in the field of public policy and administration. It was also suggested that both traditonal and new areas of industrial, social and administrative policies attracted attention from policy-makers in England who saw Scotland as a low-risk controlled experiment or precedent for policy-making in England. Between 1966 and 1975 major reorganisations took place in a number of areas of public services and admistration. In Health, the Department in London initiated much policy largely common across the UK although the other Health Departments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland might sometimes reject or modify these policies. This study considers the extent to which the reorganisation of the National Healh Service in Scotland in 1974 actually originated in Scotland, proceeded independently and perhaps caused a reluctant Health Department in England to embark on its own reorganisation while observing and learning from the more advanced process in Scotland.