Health (Amendment) Bill, 1996

Public bill · Government · Presented

The Health (Amendment) Bill, 1996 would tighten financial control of health boards by setting spending and borrowing limits and requiring them to prepare service plans, accounts and annual reports. It would clarify that boards decide major matters, such as service plans, property and appointing chief executives, while chief executives manage day-to-day operations and must warn of likely overspending. The Minister for Health could require plans to be changed, issue directions or temporarily transfer functions if a board performed poorly, while boards would gain more independence over land and grants. The Bill would also require health-promotion programmes, make running an unregistered nursing home an offence, dissolve several inactive health bodies and allow new organisations to provide personal social services.

Formal long title

Bill entitled an Act to make further provision in relation to the income, expenditure and indebtedness of health boards, to apportion responsibilities between health boards and their chief executive officers, to amend the Health Acts, 1947 to 1994, the Health (Corporate Bodies) Act, 1961, and the Nurses Act, 1985, and to provide for related matters

Last updated 22 October 2025