ABSTRACT
The United Kingdom (UK) is a parliamentary democracy, a unitary state, with elected assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exercising certain devolved powers. Britain's 'Patients' Ombudsman' - formally the Health Service Commissioner - is technically a threesome: there are three Health Service Commissioners, one each for England, Scotland and Wales. The National Health Service (NHS) was set up in the early 1970s to fill a gap in the then very under-developed complaints arrangements for the NHS. The HSC concept was based on the model of the Parliamentary Ombudsman (formally the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration - PCA) set up in 1967. Total staff in post for the HSC reached a peak of just over 90 in 1996-97 as the office was building up for the extended jurisdiction. It is not possible to separate the financing of the HSC from that of the PCA. A feature of the work of the HSC has been the variability of its workload.
