ABSTRACT
The Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) was formed in 1968 as a result of the merger of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Security. Despite the amalgamation of the two ministries in 1968, within the DHSS health and personal social services are still administered separately from social security. The fragmentation which exists at the centre was highlighted in an enquiry into the working of the DHSS carried out by three regional health authority chairmen in 1976. Health authorities represent a fourth source of inputs into the DHSS policy-making system. The NHS Planning System, introduced in 1976, was an attempt to develop an iterative planning process between the DHSS and health authorities. A fifth input to policy-making comes from the consultative machinery attached to the DHSS. Most important, there are ‘withinputs’: demands which come from ministers and civil servants within the DHSS.
