ANNEX A: Outline of the existing law relating to the NHS(12) NHS contracts
235.The nature of the arrangements between HAs and trusts is not that of an ordinary contract enforceable at law.  Instead, the 1990 Act provided for a system of “NHS contracts” (section 4), which were explicitly not contracts enforceable at law (section 4(3)), but which had attaching to them a special form of internal arbitration by the Secretary of State.  The list of bodies between whom certain agreements take the form of NHS contracts rather than ordinary contracts is contained in section 4(2).