ABSTRACT
Health and the National Health Service (NHS) indicate the potential for national and regional planning as a means of remedying perceived deficiencies in service provision. Peace-time planning proved difficult to realise, at least in part for political reasons, but there was evidence of it, most obviously with the publication of the Hospital Plan. The Plan recognised that as capital spending on hospital building increased, sums being allocated should be based on the principles of priorities in bed usage for particular patient groups, coupled with an overall pattern of development of services throughout the Regions. Another potentially significant contributory factor to the more efficient deployment of health care within the community was better communication, and co-operation between medical and nursing services. Before the NHS was established, there had been long-standing concerns about the efficiency of the way in which the various health care providers operated, especially the lack of co-ordination and planning.
