National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973

6 Provisions supplementary to s. 5

(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to exercise the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) of the preceding section and the following subsection so as to secure—

(a) that the regions determined in pursuance of those subsections together comprise the whole of England, that the areas so determined together comprise the whole of Wales and those regions and that no region includes part only of any area ; and

(b) that the provision of health services in each region can conveniently be associated with a university which has a school of medicine or with two or more such universities.

(2) The Secretary of State may by order vary the region of a Regional Health Authority or the area of an Area Health Authority whether or not the variation entails the determination of a new or the abolition of an existing region or area, and an order made by virtue of this subsection may (without prejudice to the generality of section 56(4) of this Act) contain such provisions for the transfer of officers, property, rights and liabilities as the Secretary of State thinks fit; but it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State before he makes an order in pursuance of this subsection to consult with respect to the order such bodies as he may recognise as representing officers who in his opinion are likely to be transferred or affected by transfers in pursuance of the order and such other bodies as he considers are concerned with the order.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of the said section 56(4) or of the power to make an order conferred by subsection (6) of the preceding section, an order made in pursuance of that subsection may in particular contain provisions as to the membership of the body established by the order, the transfer to the body of officers, property, rights and liabilities and the name by which the body is to be known; but it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State before he makes such an order to consult with respect to the order such bodies as he may recognise as representing officers who in his opinion are likely to be transferred or affected by transfers in pursuance of the order.

(4) The provisions of Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act shall, so far as applicable, have effect in relation to an Authority or other body established in pursuance of the preceding section.