Catalogue description Department of Health and Social Security and predecessors: Central Management Services: Organisation and Methods Reports

Central Management Services Branch (CMS) was set up in 1978 to provide management services to both the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) and the National Health Service (NHS). One of its functions was to undertake special enquiries, at the request of DHSS and NHS units, into means of improving the efficiency of procedures. These enquiries were titled Organisation and Methods (O&M) assignments. The completed reports were solely intended to give advice and guidance. Before 1978, these services were provided separately by O&M (General) Branch and O&M (NHS) Branch, as part of the ADP and O&M Division of DHSS.

Originally, assignments were wide-ranging and detailed; subsequently, in the interest of economy, their scope became more limited, with minimal field work. From 1984, reponsibility for such assignments in the NHS passed to NHS Management Consultancy Services (NHSMCS).