The Designated Areas Project Study of Medical Practice Areas

Since the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948, access to general medical services has been one of the legitimate expectations of citizenship. It is guaranteed by law, and the government has the statutory responsibility of ensuring that services are distributed in a way that enables such expectations to be fulfilled. The spatial patterning of resources which existed in 1948 was, however, the legacy of a long process of unco-ordinated development, and the Minister of Health was presented from the outset with a patchy distribution of services, in general practice as much as in hospital care. Since a major aim of the 1946 National Health Service Act was to secure a more equitable spread of resources, various procedures were instituted to eliminate the relative deprivation experienced by patients in certain parts of the COuntry; but none has fully succeeded in ensuring equal access to care irrespective of residential location.