| Administrative History | The North-Eastern Regional Hospital Board came into existence at the formation of the National Health Service in 1948 under the terms of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act of 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. VI, c.27). Five Regional Hospital Boards were established to administer Scottish hospitals. 1948 also saw the creation of eighty-five local Hospital Boards of Management. Regional Hospital Boards were responsible for taking major decisions concerning the running of hospitals in their area, the appointment of senior consultative staff, policy making, and so on. Initially the North-Eastern Board comprised 13 local Boards of Management, seven local authorities and five executive councils, and covered Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire, Banffshire, Moray and Nairn, and the islands of Orkney and Shetland. The amalgamations of Boards of Management in 1951 reduced the thirteen original boards to twelve, then to nine in 1964, and to seven in 1971. The North-Eastern Regional Hospital Board ceased to exist under National Health Service reforms in 1974 following the NHS (Scotland) Act 1972 (c.58), when the functions of Regional Hospital Boards and local Boards of Management were taken on by 15 health boards. |