Strategic Health Authorities (StHAs))
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What do they do?
As their name suggests, StHAs are responsible for defining and managing the overall strategy that is in place in their area. They are not, themselves, directly involved in the provision of healthcare but, rather, help to coordinate the various bodies that are. All NHS Trusts (including Acute Trusts, Primary Care Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, and Ambulance Service Trusts) are responsible to an StHA.
For example: In Exeter, where Michelmores are based, anyone suffering from a serious heart complaint would be diagnosed by their GP (who will be overseen by a PCT: Exeter PCT), seen by a cardiologist at the local hospital (which is managed by an Acute NHS Trust: The Royal Devon and Exeter Healthcare NHS Trust), and referred for heart surgery at a hospital in Plymouth (which comes under another Acute Trust: The Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust). Should the transfer be an emergency, the ambulance that takes the patient from Exeter to Plymouth will be run by a fourth NHS Trust (Westcountry Ambulance Services NHS Trust). However, all of these Trusts are linked by our local StHA: the South West Peninsula StHA. The purpose of the StHA is to ensure that services that rely on multiple Trusts, as in this example, are efficiently coordinated.