<P> A district health authority was an administrative territorial entity of the National Health Service in England and Wales introduced by the National Health Service Reorganisation Act 1973 . </P> <P> There are district health authorities in the Canadian health system . See Health care in Canada . </P> <P> District health authorities existed in Britain from 1974 to 1996 . Until 1982 there was a tier above them - the Area health authority . There were 205 when they were established in 1974, but some were later amalgamated . In 1979 there were 199 . </P> <P> The districts were a third tier below the regional health authority and the area health authority (which generally corresponded to non-metropolitan counties, metropolitan boroughs or groups of London boroughs) and the district management teams that ran the hospitals on a day - to - day basis . The most common complaint in evidence about the reorganisation of the NHS made to the Royal Commission on the National Health Service in 1979 was that it added an extra and unnecessary tier of management . </P>

Who is responsible for establishing district health authorities