Family practitioner committees were established by the National Health Service Re-organisation Act 1973. They replaced local executive councils which had been established in 1948 to manage primary care. Each family practitioner committee had thirty members, eleven of which were appointed by the area health authority with which it was coterminous. Eight were appointed by the local medical committee, three by the , two by the local pharmaceutical committee, two by the local optical committee and four by the local authority.