Parkinson's Desease Book & CD-ROM Updates

About the National Health Service (NHS) Executive & Regional Office

The purpose of the NHS is to secure, through the resources available, the greatest possible improvement to the physical and mental health of people in England by promoting health, preventing ill health, diagnosing and treating illness and injury, and caring for those with long-term illness and disability who require the services of the NHS: a service available to all on the basis of clinical need, regardless of the ability to pay.

The NHS Executive is part of the Department of Health with offices in Leeds and London and eight regions across the country. It supports Ministers and provides leadership and a range of central management functions to the NHS, while the regional offices make sure national policy is developed in their own particular areas.

The NHS Executive's main responsibilities lie in:

Formulating policies for improving health care, including research

Securing resources and allocating funds to health authorities

Setting guidelines for performance expected by purchasers and providers and monitoring their achievement.

The NHS Executive West Midlands is one of the eight regional offices of the NHS Executive responsible for strategic management of the NHS in each region. In addition the Regional Office with other relevant agencies aims to:

contribute actively to the development of health strategy and health service policies nationally and locally;

manage the integration of research and development, education training and service strategies;

ensure the effective performance and development of the NHS at local level.
West Midlands region covers Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, North Staffordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, South Staffordshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcester and has a population of 5.6 million.

The Priorities and Planning Guidelines for the NHS sets the overall direction for the work of the NHS as a whole. Including:

Work to improve the public's health and tackling health inequalities.

Promoting fairness and equity through reducing variations in access and in use of services.

An integral programme of action and measures in relation to quality.

Working in partnership and co-operation for the development of an efficient, effective and responsive service, removing the artificial barriers between the NHS and personal social services.

Effective commissioning and provision of comprehensive mental health services.

Improved clinical and cost effectiveness of services throughout the NHS, supporting R&D and formulating decisions on the basis of appropriate evidence about clinical effectiveness.

Greater voice and influence for users of NHS Services and their carers in NHS Executives care (a key aim of this manual).

Ensure that people with continuing health care needs are enabled through the NHS to live as independently as possible.

Developing NHS organisations and the staff who work within them to meet the challenges of a new NHS.

Ensuring a prompt and effective emergency service appropriate to the needs of the people, improved care for the critically ill, improved access for cancer services.