FOR DEBATE - LOCAL-GOVERNMENT AND THE NATIONAL-HEALTH-SERVICE - THE NEW AGENDA

There are some interesting paradoxes in the relationship between local government and the National Health Service (NHS). Local government is responsible for a range of major services, many of which relate to he alth broadly defined. The NHS provides many services which are often p opularly thought to be part of local government (and, indeed, in many countries are). Local government prides itself on its 'localness'; the NHS, with its services delivered in a very local fashion for the most part, cannot quite decide whether it is a national service or a local one. Yet these two major agencies of governance and public service pr ovision often seem unable to work very well together. In the interests of good government, both agencies need to work together where their i nterests coincide or abut one another. Differences of perspective, pri ority, culture and style need to be recognized but resolved, Opportuni ties for joint working need to be grasped and the experience built on. The paper looks at a series of issues and opportunities which bring l ocal government and the NHS together. They create an incentive to impr ove working relationships; at the same time they suggest an agenda of future possibilities.