Website of the Department of Health

1. There have been suggestions that the Health and Social Care Act 2001 removes the ability of local authorities to employ nurses. Firstly, section 49 of this Act relates only to the provision of care by a registered nurse as part of community care services. Even in the context of community care services local authorities can continue to provide or arrange the provision of the services of a registered nurse, where this is part of a partnership arrangement with the NHS, involving the delegation of NHS functions.

2. Under the Partnership Arrangements, an NHS body can delegate any of its functions to the local authority that are included in the list of functions in the Regulations. (SI 2000 No.617). These include sections 2 and 3 of the 1977 NHS Act, which enable health services to provide a wide range of services, including nursing. This means that where integrated provision or lead commissioning is being led from a local authority, the staff can be transferred across in order to carry out the functions that have been delegated. There is therefore no bar to local authorities employing nurses directly when they are being employed in order to carry out NHS activities for, say, people with learning disabilities.