Ministry of Health


Ministry of Health

The Ministry of Health was the first health body in the UK that could be properly regarded as a department of government. It was created by the Ministry of Health Act 1919, and consolidated under a single authority the medical and public health functions of central Government. Local medical services were expanded by war efforts and led to the establishment of the NHS in 1948. In 1968, the MoH and the Ministry of Social Security were dissolved and their functions transferred to the Department of Health and Social Security, which was divided 20 years later into the Department of Social Security and Department of Health.