Formed 1914 Employees 100,000 (2011) | Jurisdiction New South Wales | |
Preceding agencies Department of Public Health
Health Commission of NSW
New South Wales Department of Health Headquarters 73 Miller Street, North Sydney Annual budget A$17.3 billion (2011-2012) | ||
The New South Wales Ministry of Health, a department of the New South Wales Government, is responsible for monitoring the performance of the public health system in New South Wales, particularly through public hospitals. The goals of the Ministry are to keep people healthy, provide the health care that people need, deliver high quality services, and manage health services well.
The provision or delivery of health services are delegated to fifteen local health districts who provide services in a wide range of settings, from primary care posts in the remote outback to metropolitan tertiary health centres. In addition, two specialist networks are focused on children's and paediatric services; and custodial health and forensic mental health. A third network covers the delivery of public health services provided by three Sydney facilities operated by St Vincent's and Mater Health.
The Ministry is led by its Secretary, Elizabeth Koff. The Secretary reports to the Minister for Health, presently the Honourable Jillian Skinner MP, and the Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Medical Research and Assistant Minister for Health, presently the Honourable Pru Goward MP.
Local Health Districts (formerly Area Health Services)
On 1 January 2011, the eight former Area Health Services were devolved into fifteen Local Health Networks (LHNs). The LHNs are as follows: