Looks at three examples of how regional health authorities have devolved estate department functions as required by Government plans to reform the National Health Service as set out in "Working for patients". Oxfordshire RHA dissolved its inhouse estates department with 30 out of 60 staff taken by three private practices in exchange for on-going projects and an agreement that the rha would pass on a second volume of new work over a three year period. Merseyside RHA , one of two RHAs still employing a design and building team acting as a profitable fee earning multi-disciplinary agency competing for contracting on commercial terms against private practice. It is also able to bid for outside work. The project management group at the Royal Free Hospital London is becoming a self-governing NHS Trust after April 1991 having decided to opt out of the NHS. Following removal of Crown Immunity from hospitals, project management teams will also have responsibility for ensuring compliance with