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NHS Strategic Health Authorities (SHA) are part of the structure of the National Health Service in England. In 2002, the existing NHS Health Authorities (see List of NHS Health Authorities (1996-2002)) were renamed and merged to form the 28 new Strategic Health Authorities.^[1][2] The SHAs have the Board and governance structures common to all NHS Trusts.

On April 12, 2006, Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, announced that, following an NHS consultation, which ended on March 22, 2006, the SHAs were to be reorganized, reducing to ten in number.^[3][4] This is hoped to produce substantial financial savings.

Each SHA is responsible for enacting the directives and implementing fiscal policy as dictated by the Department of Health at a regional level. In turn each SHA area contains various NHS trusts which take responsibility for running or commissioning local NHS services. The SHA is responsible for strategic supervision of these services.

The ten SHAs established as of 1 July 2006 are:

1. East of England
2. East Midlands
3. London
4. North East
5. North West
6. South Central
7. South East Coast
8. South West
9. West Midlands
10. Yorkshire and Humber

These Strategic Health Authorities are the same as the Government Office regions of England, except that the large South East England region is divided into two : South Central and South East Coast. [1].

• NHS Hospital Trust
• NHS Ambulance Services Trust
• NHS Care Trust
• NHS Mental Health Services Trust
• NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT)

• NHS Trust

1. Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire SHA
2. Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire SHA
3. Birmingham and The Black Country SHA (West Midlands minus Coventry)
4. Cheshire and Merseyside SHA
5. County Durham and Tees Valley SHA
6. Cumbria and Lancashire SHA
7. Dorset and Somerset SHA
8. Essex SHA
9. Greater Manchester SHA
10. Hampshire and Isle Of Wight SHA
11. Kent and Medway SHA
12. Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland SHA
13. Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire SHA
14. North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA
15. North Central London SHA
16. North West London SHA
17. North East London SHA
18. Northumberland, Tyne and Wear SHA
19. Shropshire and Staffordshire SHA
20. South East London SHA
21. South West London SHA
22. South West Peninsula SHA
23. South Yorkshire SHA
24. Surrey and Sussex SHA (Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex)
25. Thames Valley SHA (Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire)
26. Trent SHA (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire)
27. West Midlands South SHA (Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Coventry) †
28. West Yorkshire SHA

† known as the 'Coventry, Warwickshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire SHA until 2004 [2]

The London break-up is

• North Central London - Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey, Islington
• North East London - Barking and Dagenham, City, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest
• North West London - Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Westminster
• South East London - Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark
• South West London - Croydon, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Wandsworth, Sutton

These SHAs were all be replaced by a single London SHA in 2006.

1. ^ http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2002/20017--b.htm#1
2. ^ http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si2002/20020553.htm
3. ^ http://www.connectingforhealth.nhs.uk/bureauservices/plannedmigrations/mergejuly06sha
4. ^ http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/13/37/60/04133760.pdf