NHS Wales in the context of Publicly-funded health care

The National Health Service (NHS) is the collective term for the four separate publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern Ireland) which was created separately and is often referred to locally as "the NHS". The original systems were established in 1948 (NHS Wales/GIG Cymru was founded in 1969) as part of major social reforms following the Second World War, and officially launched at Park Hospital in Davyhulme, near Manchester, England (now known as Trafford General Hospital). The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery. Each system provides a comprehensive range of health services, provided without charge for residents of the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care, though NHS patients in England who are not exempt have to pay prescription charges.

Taken together, the four systems in 2015–16 employed around 1.6 million people with a combined budget of £136.7 billion. In 2024, the total health sector workforce across the United Kingdom was 1,499,368.

In the United Kingdom most medicines are supplied via the National Health Service at either no charge, or for a fixed charge for up to three months' worth of any medicine. Charges for prescriptions for medicines and some medical appliances are payable by adults in England under the age of 60, but not by older people or children. However, people may be exempt from charges in various exemption categories. Charges were abolished by NHS Wales in 2007, Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland in 2010 and by NHS Scotland in 2011. In 2010/11, in England, £450 million was raised through these charges, some 0.5% of the total NHS budget. As of 2025 the prescription charge is £9.90 per item.

Ireland also has a system of fixed charges rather than individually priced medicines, but the details are totally different.

The secretary of state for health and social care, also referred to as the health secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department of Health and Social Care, mainly overseeing health and social care in England. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.

Since devolution in 1999, the position holder's responsibility for the NHS is mainly restricted to the health service in England, whilst the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Scottish Government is responsible for NHS Scotland and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Welsh Government is responsible for NHS Wales. The position can trace its roots back to the nineteenth century, and has been a secretary of state position since 1968. For 30 years, from 1988 to 2018, the position was titled Secretary of State for Health, before Prime Minister Theresa May added "and Social Care" to the designation in the 2018 British cabinet reshuffle.