Department of Health

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of Her Majesty’s Government, responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. It oversees the English National Health Service (NHS). The department is led by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care with two Ministers of State and three Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State.
The Department of Health develops policies and guidelines to improve the quality of care and meet patient expectations.
The department carries out some of its work through arms-length bodies (ALBs) including executive non-departmental public bodies such as NHS England and the NHS Digital and executive agencies such as Public Health England and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).