ABSTRACT
Local authority health, welfare and housing departments have no monopoly of provision of services for the elderly. Services are also provided by other public bodies, voluntary organizations, and private enterprise. The existence of alternative suppliers made the process of planning more complex, and it was difficult for a local authority to decide how much of a service, or what aspect of a service, it should aim to provide itself. The problems of planning in conjunction with voluntary organizations and private enterprise are considered in later chapters. This chapter concentrates on the ways in which local authority health, welfare and housing departments regarded the role of other bodies which derive their powers to provide services from parliamentary statutes, the main ones being Regional Hospital Boards, National Health Service Executive Councils, the Ministry of Social Security, and local authority departments other than health, welfare and housing.
