Medical schools favour fewer health bodies

Government plans to cut the number of health authorities from 99 to 30 were welcomed this week by heads of medical schools and nursing departments.

Some medical schools, such as Manchester, have to deal with more than one authority. "Larger bodies should be more efficient, but we must ensure that education and training are not ignored in the new planning arrangements," said a spokesman for the deans of nursing.

He added: "It will be interesting to see if the new health authorities roughly match the 24 workforce development confederations set up on April 1."