Local health board

A local health board (LHB; Welsh: bwrdd iechyd lleol) is an administrative unit of NHS Wales, established in 2003.

The LHBs were operationally launched on 1 April 2003,[1][2] following "The Local Health Boards (Establishment) (Wales) Order 2003" coming into force on 10 February 2003, replacing the five Health Authorities in Wales.

The boards were given the responsibility of financing hospital trusts, G.Ps, dentists, and other healthcare professionals to provide these services.

In 2009, the health boards were reorganised and merged with local NHS hospital trusts into seven larger local health boards, coming into effect on 1 October 2009, replacing the system in use since 2003.

Each LHB is responsible for delivering all NHS healthcare services within a geographical area, divided into a number of Network Clusters.